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THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  NATIONS 


The 

Thirteen  Colonies 


BY 
HELEN   AINSLIE  SMITH 

AUTHOR    OF    "one    HUNDRED    FAMOUS    AMERICANS,"    "  STORIES   OF    PERSONS 

and  places  in  america,"  "  the  colonies" 
"animals:  wild  and  tame,"  etc. 


IN  TIVO  PARTS 


PART  II 

NEW  JERSEY,  DELAWARE,  MARYLAND,  PENNSYLVANIA, 

CONNECTICUT,  RHODE  ISLAND,  NORTH  CAROLINA,  SOUTH 

CAROLINA,  GEORGIA 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW  YORK  &  LONDON 

^be  1Rnic??eiboc{^er  press 

1901 


Copyright,  igoi 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 


TTbe  "ftnicfteibocfter  press,  "Wew  Jgorft 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.       NEW  JERSEY,  FIFTH  COLONY — A  CENTURY  OF 

PROPRIETARY  CHANGES       ....  I 

II.       A  DUAL  ROYAL  PROVINCE  ....  34 

III.  DELAWARE,  SIXTH  COLONY THE  SMALL  DO- 

MAIN COVETED  BY  THREE  NATIONS     .  .  5  I 

IV,  A    CENTURY      AND     A     DECADE     OF     ENGLISH 

CONTROL    .......  80 

V.       MARYLAND,    SEVENTH     COLONY  —  THE     FIRST 

AMERICAN    PALATINATE      ....        IO4 

VI.       THE  TRIUMPH  OF  PROTESTANT  INTOLERANCE       129 

VII.       PENNSYLVANIA,         EIGHTH         COLONY  THE 

FRIENDS'    GREATEST    COLONY      .  .  .       149 

VIII.       THE    OLD    ORDER    CHANGES     ....       202 

IX.       CONNECTICUT,    NINTH    COLONY — AN    INLAND 

REPUBLIC  ......       236 

X.       THE    CHARTERED    CONGREGATIONALIST    COM- 
MONWEALTH         264 

XI.       RHODE    ISLAND,    TENTH    COLONY — FREE-CON- 
SCIENCE   DEMOCRACIES         ...  29I 

VOL.  II.  iii 


IV 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

XII.       THE      MOST       LIBERAL       GOVERNMENT      EVER 
CHARTERED  

XIII.  NORTH  CAROLINA,  ELEVENTH   COLONY — THE 

MOST     INDEPENDENT     OF     THE     SOUTHERN 
COLONIES 

XIV.  AN  UNSUBMISSIVE  CROWN  PROVINCE 

XV.       SOUTH    CAROLINA,    TWELFTH    COLONY AN 

UNGOVERNABLE  PALATINATE      . 

XVI.       THE  GREATEST  SLAVE-HOLDING  PROVINCE      . 

XVII.       GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH    COLONY TWENTY 

YEARS  OF  COMPULSORY  VIRTUE 

INDEX       


354 
381 

393 

427 

446 
477 


■m^I 


m 


-^•■x?-^i© 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


ATTACK  ON  FORT  MOULTRIE  BY  THE  BRITISH  FLEET, 

1776        .  .  .  .  .  Frontispiece 

FIRST  CHURCH  IX  NEWARK        .....  I4 

Redrawn  from  Whitehead' s  ^'  History  of  Perth  AjJiboy.'" 

WILLIAM  BURNET,    GOVERNOR  FROM    172O-28    .  .  ^i^ 

Redraiun  from  Whitehead's  '''History  of  Perth  Aviboy'^ 

NASSAU  HALL  .......  4I 

JONATHAN  DICKINSON     ......  45 

First  President  of  the  College  of  A^eiu  Jersey. 

COLONIAL  CURRENCY        ......  46 

"liberty     hall,"     GOVERNOR    LIVINGSTON'S    RESI- 
DENCE, IN    1776,    ELIZABETH   TOWN,    N.  J.  .  .  47 

PLAN  OF  FORT   CHRISTINA,    1655        ....  58 

REVEREND  ERIC   BJORCK  .....  89 

OLD  swedes'  church      ......  93 

GEORGE  CALVERT,    FIRST  LORD  BALTIMORE         .  .        I06 

From  an  old  print. 

CECILIUS  CALVERT,    SECOND   LORD   BALTIMORE  .        II9 

From  an  old  print. 

OLD  STATE  HOUSE  AT   ANNAPOLIS     .  .  .  •        I3I 

From  Pidgleys  ''^Annals  of  Annapolis.'" 

VOL.  II  V 


VI 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

MOALe's  sketch  of  BALTIMORE  IN   T752  .  .        137 

From  the  oi-iginal  in  the  possession  of  the  Maryland 
Historical  Society. 

THE  BRITISH  TAX  STAMP,    1 765-66  .  .  .        143 

OLD  COURT-HOUSE  (1768)  AND  POWDER  MAGAZINE.        1 44 
From  an  old  print  in  the  possession  of  the  Maryland 
Historical  Society. 

THE  BURNING  OF  THE  '*  PEGGY  STEWART  "       .  .        145 

Frojn  the  painting  by  Frank  B.  Mayer, 

WILLIAM  PENN  .......        157 

After  the  portrait  by  West. 

AN  EARLY  RESIDENT  OF  PITTSBURGH         .  .  .        163 

From  a  statue  by  T.  A.  Mills  in  the  Ca7-negie  Mtiseuni. 

FRIENDS'  MEETING-HOUSE  AT  MERION        .  .  .        167 

Fro/n  an  old  print. 

FRIENDS  GOING  TO  MEETING  IN  SUMMER  .  .        171 

From  an  old  print. 

FRIENDS  GOING  TO  MEETING  IN   WINTER.  .  -175 

From  an  old pi-int. 

PENN'S  TREATY   W^ITH   THE  INDIANS  .  .  -179 

From  an  old  print. 

THOMAS  PENN  .......        203 

OLD    STATE     HOUSE,     PHILADELPHIA.         ERECTED    IN 

1735 209 

SECOND  STREET,  PHILADELPHIA,   SHOWING   THE  OLD 

COURT-HOUSE  ON   THE  LEFT       .  .  .  -2  13 

THE  FIRST  CHRIST   CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA        .  .217 

Redrawn  from  an  old  lithograph. 

FORT  DUQUESNE       .  .  .  .  .  .  .22  1 

From  an  old prittt. 

FAC-SIMILE  HEADING  OF  THE   "  PENNSYLVANIA  JOUR- 
NAL,"   OCTOBER  31,    1765  ....        229 


ILL  us  TKA  Tl ONS  VU 

PAGE 

carpenters'  hall,     PHILADELPHIA,    WHEREIN    MET 

THE  FIRST  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS,   1 7  74            .  233 

GOVERNOR  JOHN   WINTHROP     .....  243 
From  a  steel  engraving. 

THE  judges'  CAVE              ......  262 

THE  CHARTER  OAK             ......  272 

THE  OLD  STATE  HOUSE,   HARTFORD              .              .             .  275 

No%o  the  City  Hall. 

YALE  COLLEGE  AND  THE  CHAPEL  IN   I786            .             .  279 

CONTINENTAL  CURRENCY           .....  281 

SIR  RICHARD  SALTONSTALL      .....  283 
From  a  steel  engraving . 

ROGER  WILLIAMS  RECEIVED  BY  THE  INDIANS    .             .  297 

From  a  design  by  A .  H.  Wray. 

THE  ROGER  WILLIAMS  MONUMENT    .             ,              .              ■  Z^l 

CONTINENTAL  CURRENCY           .....  337 

NEWPORT  IN   1795.             ......  349 

ST.  Paul's  church,  edenton,  n.c.        .         .         .  373 

Begun  in  lyjd. 

THE  pirate's  well,    KEY  WEST          ....  377 

HUGH  WADDELL       .......  385 

HEADQUARTERS    OF    LORD     CORNWALLIS,     WILMING- 
TON              391 

HOME  OF  SIR  JOHN  YEAMANS  .....  397 

PLAN  OF  CHARLESTON      ......  417 

From  a  survey  of  Edward  Crisp  in  1704, 

MAJOR-GENERAL  WILLIAM  MOULTRIE          .              .              .  439 
From  a  painting  by  Col.  y.  Trnmbull. 

THE   ATTACK    ON    FORT    MOULTRIE    BY    THE    BRITISH 

FLEET,    1776 443 

GENERAL  OGLETHORPE    ......  447 


Vlll 


ILL  US  TRA  riONS 


GREAT  SEAL  OF  GEORGIA  IN   COLONIAL  DAYS    . 

TOMO  CHICHI  ....... 

From  an  old  print. 

PLANTATION  ON   THE  BANKS  OF  THE  ALTAMAHA 

ST.   AUGUSTINE,    FLORIDA  ..... 

SAVANNAH       ........ 

From  a  print  published  in  London  in  1^41. 

OLD   FORT,    WHERE    POWDER    MAGAZINE  WAS    SEIZED 
IN   1775   


PAGE 

449 
453 

459 
463 
469 


474 


MAP 


at  End 


THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 


THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 


CHAPTER   I 

NEW   JERSEY,    FIFTH    COLONY — A    CENTURY    OF 
PROPRIETARY  CHANGES 

BETWEEN    DUTCHMEN    AND    INDIANS 


THE  remarkable  peninsula  which  has  been  known 
for  over  two  hundred  years  as  New  Jersey 
was,  half  a  century  earlier,  part  of  New  Netherland, 
planted,  some  say,  by  the  earliest  of  the  Dutch 
colonists,  and  accordingly  it  is  ranked  next  to  its 
great  neighbour  as  the  fifth  colony  among  the 
Thirteen. 

None  of  the  land  which  Hudson  discovered  at- 
tracted him  more  than  this,  as  he  coasted  it  in  the 
sultry  heat  of  the  last  week  in  August,  1609.  Some 
say  that  the  Dutch  traders  sent  out  the  next  year 
selected  the  rocky  shoulder  of  land  now  known  as 
Jersey  City  Heights  for  a  factory  and  redoubt,  at 
the  same  time  that  they  set  up  a  post  on  Manhattan 
Island.     Four  years  later,  three  scouts  from  Fort 


2  THE   THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

Nassau  on  the  Noorde  or  North  River,  following 
streams  and  Indian  trails  in  search  of  peltries,  came 
upon  what  they  called  the  Zuyde  or  South  River, — 
the  English  name  was  Delaware, — and  descended  it 
with  delight  until  they  were  captured  by  some  In- 
dians and  held  for  ransom.  Then  a  runner,  prob- 
ably taking  the  trail  from  what  is  now  Gloucester, 
crossed  the  peninsula  and  carried  the  news  to  the 
Dutch  at  the  mouth  of  the  North  River.  Captain 
Cornelius  Hendricksen  went  around  by  sea  after 
them,  exploring  both  bay  and  river  and  finding  the 
region  abounding  in  game,  the  banks  covered  with 
grape-vines,  and  the  natives  gentle  and  possessing 
fortunes  in  seal  and  other  skins,  for  which  Hendrick- 
sen opened  a  lively  trade. 

Nine  years  later,  when  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company  sent  out  their  first  colony  under  Captain 
Mey,  besides,  as  some  believe,  settling  one  of  the 
many  groups  about  the  mouth  of  the  North  River 
on  the  heights  near  the  redoubt,  he  took  eio-ht  sinHe 
men  and  four  couples  married  at  sea  to  the  place 
where  the  scouts  had  been  captured.  He  had 
visited  the  region  on  more  than  one  trading  voyage, 
and  named  for  himself  Cape  Mey,  Cape  Cornelius 
(afterward  Cape  Henlopen),  and  the  bay.  New  Port 
Mey.  At  the  mouth  of  Timmer  Kill  or  Timber 
Creek,  now  a  branch  of  the  Gloucester  River,  he 
settled  the  colonists  in  a  log  block-house;  and,  not 
to  be  outdone  in  loyalty  to  the  Stadtholder  by 
Elkins  on  the  North  River,  he  named  it  also  Fort 
Nassau.  Other  strong  houses  were  built  near  what 
are  now  Burlington  and  Trenton,  apparently  because 


NE  W  JER  SE  V,  FIF  TH  COL  ONY  3 

they  were  at  the  end  of  welUbeaten  Indian  trails, 
still  marked  by  the  Old  Roads  across  the  peninsula 
to  what  is  now  Elizabethtown,  which  was  not  a  long 
distance  for  the  canoeing  of  those  days  to  the  ever- 
growing post  at  Manhattan.  It  is  said  that  the 
traders  connected  with  these  factories  were  the  first 
white  men  in  the  country  to  make  long  journeys 
through  the  wilderness,  though  they  also  carried 
their  peltries  and  took  back  provisions  by  water. 

As  soon  as  his  settlers  were  started  in  their  new 
life,  Mey  left  them  to  what  experiences  we  know 
not.  Director  William  Verhulst,  who  succeeded 
him  for  a  year,  is  believed  to  have  been  sent  here, 
and  not  to  the  North  River,  and  to  have  made  his 
residence  in  the  substantial  brick  house  which  stood 
for  a  long  time  on  Verhulsten  Island. 
.  The  lands  on  this  bay  were  the  first  to  attract  at- 
tention when,  in  1629,  the  Company  granted  to  the 
board  of  directors  the  privilege  of  buying  great  tracts 
from  the  Indians  for  patrooneries.  The  agents  of 
those  great  speculators,  Samuel  Godyn  and  Samuel 
Blommaert,  secured  some  sixteen  miles  square  of 
the  peninsula,  including  Cape  Mey,  besides  almost 
twice  as  much  above  Cape  Cornelius  on  the  western 
shore,  giving  Godyn's  name  to  the  bay  and  probably 
erecting  all  of  it  into  the  Patroonery  of  Zwanendael, 
although  their  only  attempt  at  settlement  was  made 
in  what  is  now  Delaware.  The  second  choice  in 
this  rush  for  land  was  also  on  the  peninsula,  the 
sightly  country  at  the  mouth  of  the  North  River 
and  along  the  western  shore  of  the  harbour,  includ- 
ing   Staaten   Island.      All   of   this  was  bought  by 


4  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

Michael  Paauw,  who  named  it  Pavonia,  turning  into 
Latin  his  own  name,  Peacock  in  English.  Paauw 
was  a  director  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  and  Lord 
of  Achtienhoven,  a  great  man  in  his  day  and  genera- 
tion. Some  of  his  deeds  from  the  natives  are  the 
first  on  record  in  New  Netherland,  dated  in  the 
summer  and  autumn  of  1630.  They  named  Ahasi- 
mus,  which  is  now  the  heart  of  old  Jersey  City,  and 
Hobocan  Hackingh  —  the  place  of  the  stone  from 
which  the  Indian  made  his  hobocan  or  tobacco  pipe. 
Directly  opposite  New  Amsterdam  the  port  of  Pa- 
vonia was  founded.  Some  people,  taking  the  In- 
dian name,  Gamounepau,  for  French,  called  it  the 
Commune  Paauw,  from  which  it  has  become  Com- 
munipaw.  At  Ahasimus  the  Patroon's  commissary, 
Paulus  Van  Voorst,  and  his  good  wife  built  them- 
selves a  home,  and  gave  a  most  literal  house-warm- 
ing to  Director  Van  Twiller,  Dominie  Bogardus, 
and  Captain  de  Vries,  whose  journal  tells  the  story. 
They  partook  plentifully  of  the  hospitality  of  the 
new  house,  especially  of  the  wine-cellar;  had  a 
quarrel ;  made  it  up  with  the  aid  of  fresh  bottles, 
and,  at  length,  when  the  guests  took  leave  it  was 
with  so  much  cordiality  that  the  host  in  overflowing 
good  will  fired  a  salute  from  his  swivel  steen-stnck, 
or  stone  gun,  mounted  in  front  of  the  house.  But 
it  threw  a  spark  on  the  reed-thatched  roof,  turning 
the  salute  into  a  bonfire,  and  left  Van  Voorst  and 
his  wife  with  a  pile  of  ashes  in  place  of  their  new 
home. 

Other  purchases  and  settlements  were  made  on 
this  bank,  and  boweries  laid  out,  which  immediately 


NEW  JERSEY,  FIFTH  COLONY  5 

began  to  prove  the  fruitfulness  of  the  Garden  State. 
A  farmer  at  Paulus  Hoeck,  or  Hook,  laid  and  won 
a  wager  that  on  any  part  of  a  certain  tract  of  his  he 
could  grow  barley  so  tall  that  he  could  easily  tie  the 
ears  together  over  his  head.  Nearly  the  whole  crop 
grew  to  the  height  of  seven  feet.  From  the  abun- 
dant crops  of  the  Indians,  the  "  Maize  Lands  "  was 
long  the  name  of  part  of  this  region. 

It  was  the  "  Testy  "  Director  Kieft  who  encour- 
aged a  tenant  to  put  up  the  first  of  many  famous 
breweries  at  Hobocan.  It  was  he,  too,  who  brought 
upon  the  little  settlements  and  scattered  farms  the 
murderous  attacks  of  the  Raritan  Indians  in  1640, 
besides  a  much  more  savage  war  afterwards  by  his 
treacherous  massacre  of  River  tribes,  who  had  as- 
sembled near  Hackensack  to  offer  amends  for  some 
of  their  young  men's  acts  of  personal  vengeance. 
Those  of  Kieft's  victims  who  escaped  his  massacre 
fell  upon  the  innocent  Pavonia  people  in  their  beds 
with  horrible  butcheries,  from  which  a  few  fled  to 
their  boats  and  gained  the  protection  of  Fort 
Amsterdam  by  the  light  of  their  burning  homes. 
Nothing  was  left  of  all  the  boweries  but  the  black- 
ened walls  of  Kieft's  brew-house. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  peninsula,  while  Fort 
Nassau  flourished  with  the  farms  round  about,  some 
Englishmen  from  Newhaven  put  up  buildings,  and 
planted  corn  on  Varcken's  Kill,  now  Salem  Creek, 
but  were  driven  out  by  the  Dutch,  or  rather  by  a 
few  Dutchmen  aiding  the  Swedes,  who  had  lately 
planted  on  the  west  side  of  the  bay.  Soon  after 
that  it  was  "  all  New  Sweden  for  a  hundred  miles  " 


6  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

on  both  shores,  and  Elfsborg  or  EHnborough,  at 
the  mouth  of  Varcken's  Kill,  made  even  the  Dutch 
strike  their  flags  for  several  years  until  Director 
Stuyvesant  forced  the  Swedes  to  abandon  it  to  the 
mosquitoes,  and  called  it  Myggenborg  or  Mosquito 
Fort. 

In  Stuyvesant's  time,  the  settlements  of  Pavonia 
were  destroyed  and  deserted  again  in  a  war  waged 
by  some  of  the  River  Indians  in  revenge  for  the 
death  of  a  squaw  killed  for  stealing  Burgher  Van 
Dyck's  peaches  in  New  Amsterdam.  After  every- 
thing had  lain  in  ruins  for  about  five  years,  some  of 
the  survivors  obtained  permission  from  Stuyvesant 
to  rebuild  their  settlements;  and  Jacques  Cortelyou, 
the  first  sworn  city  surveyor  of  New  Amsterdam, 
laid  out  villages  at  Gemeenepa  and  at  "  Gwey- 
kouck,  otherwise  the  Maize  Land,"  afterwards 
Bergen.  Each  was  a  plot  eight  hundred  feet 
square,  surrounded  by  log  palisades.  One  street 
ran  all  the  way  round  just  within  the  palisade,  and 
two  others  traversed  the  centre  of  the  plot,  starting 
from  gates  in  the  palisade  and  crossing  at  right 
angles.  In  the  open  square  thus  formed  in  the 
heart  of  the  village,  a  public  well  was  dug,  and 
fitted  with  a  long  sweep  besides  watering-troughs 
for  cattle.  Each  of  the  quarters  made  by  the  inter- 
secting streets  was  divided  into  eight  lots,  and  built 
up  with  solid  houses  and  with  cattle-sheds  that  often 
were  thatched  with  cat-tails  in  spite  of  severe  laws 
against  using  inflammable  materials.  Beyond  the 
gates  was  the  Buyten  Tuyn  or  garden  plot,  divided 
to  correspond  with  the  house  lots  within. 


NEW  JERSEY,  FIFTH   COLONY  / 

ENGLISH    PALATINATE    OF    NEW    JERSEY 

There  is  no  telling  how  many  there  were  of  these 
compact  Dutch  villages,  some  if  not  all  with  ordi- 
nances, charter,  and  their  own  officers  established 
by  the  Director;  but  there  seem  to  have  been  at 
least  Hooboocken,  Ahasymes,  Bergen,  Gemoene- 
paen,  and  Weehawken,  when,  in  the  autumn  of 
1664,  Colonel  Nicolls  seized  New  Netherland  for 
the  Duke  of  York  and  Albany,  naming  this  westerly 
peninsula  Albania,  while  the  larger  part  of  the  pro- 
vince was  called  New  York.  After  Nicolls  had 
examined  his  conquest  more  thoroughly,  Albania 
became  the  apple  of  his  eye.  He  was  tender  of  the 
groups  of  worthy  families,  whom  the  Indians  had  so 
often  driven  from  their  fertile  and  sightly  homes, 
and,  on  receiving  their  oath  of  allegiance,  he  allowed 
them  to  keep  their  courts  and  other  customs,  even 
to  their  jaw-breaking  uncouth  Dutch-Indian  names. 
Soon  he  had  messengers  going  through  Long  Island 
and  New  England  to  gather  crowds  on  town  squares, 
and  proclaim  the  attractions  of  Albania.  Within  a 
year  he  made  four  grants  for  new  towns  between 
Hackensack  and  Sandy  Hook. 

The  first  was  planted  at  the  mouth  of  what  is  now 
Elizabethtown  Creek  on  Newark  Bay;  the  Dutch 
called  the  latter  the  Achter  Koll,  or  bay  after  the 
great  bay,  which  the  English  translated  into  After- 
cull.  To  some  Puritan  farmers,  fishermen,  and 
whalers  of  Connecticut  and  Long  Island  was  granted 
the  strip  between  the  Raritan  and  Passaic  rivers  and 
twice  the  distance  inland.  An  old  chronicle  says 
that  this  tract  was 


8  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

"  the  handsomest  and  pleasantest  of  territories,  between 
two  distant  mountains,  with  a  freshwater  river  flowing 
through  the  centre  of  the  lowland;  where  the  Raritan 
Indians  who  dwelt  there,  cultivated  abundance  of  maize, 
beans,  pumpkins,  and  other  fruit." 

In  the  fashion  of  New  Englanders,  those  who  re- 
ceived this  grant  formed  a  land  company  or  "  town 
association  "  of  about  fifty  men,  who  contributed 
the  beaver-skins  to  buy  the  tract  of  the  Indians.  A 
few  men  passed  the  hard  winter  of  1664  in  a  rude 
shelter  which  they  built  near  the  mouth  of  the 
"  Fresh-water  river,"  and  took  up  the  claim  of 
"  Ye  Affter  Cull  Colonic. "  Others  came  in  the 
spring,  taking  shares  in  the  town  association,  draw- 
ing their  home  lots  and  -farm  lots  on  the  bay  shore 
and  the  river,  planting  crops  and  building  at  least 
four  good  clapboarded  houses, to  which  they  brought 
their  wives  and  children  in  the  summer.  But  soon 
came  the  amazing  news  that  the  Duke  had  sold 
Albania  to  Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir  George  Carteret 
in  June,  1664,  two  months  before  NicoUs  took  the 
country  from  the  Dutch.  The  "Affter  Cull" 
colony's  title  was  worthless;  but  Nicolls  bade  them 
hold  on;  he  was  going  back  to  England,  and  would 
plead  with  his  Royal  Highness  not  to  give  up  this 
garden  spot.  But  James  the  Mercenary  had  no 
wish  to  return  the  "  competent  sum  of  money  "  for 
which  he  had  ceded  the  entire  peninsula  below  41" 
40',  "  in  as  full  and  ample  manner"  as  he  had  re- 
ceived it.  He  called  it  the  province  of  Nova  Ca^sar- 
ea,  or  New  Jersey,  in  remembrance  of  the  gallant 


NE  W  J  ERSE  V,  FIFTH  COLON  V  9 

refusal  of  Carteret,  Governor  of  the  Island  of  Jersey, 
to  lower  the  royal  flag  to  the  parliamentary  forces  in 
1649.  The  fortress  under  his  command  had  been 
the  last  of  the  realm  to  yield  to  the  Comimonwealth. 
The  "  Affter  Cull  Colonie  "  of  Puritans  had  settled 
within  the  palatinate  of  two  Royalist  Churchmen, 
with  leniency  toward  Roman  Catholics.  Carteret, 
the  leader  in  the  enterprise,  was  the  head  of  an  old 
French  family,  who  though  they  had  long  been  de- 
voted English  subjects,  cherished  their  language, 
their  customs,  and  a  great  body  of  French  servants 
and  other  retainers  on  their  Jersey  estates.  If  half 
of  this  had  been  known  to  the  settlers,  no  man  could 
have  convinced  them  that  they  had  escaped  the 
most  tyrannical  government  in  America  for  one  of 
the  most  enlightened.  But,  knowing  as  little  as 
they  did,  before  they  had  time  to  consider  it,  they 
saw  a  vessel  come  into  "  the  cull  "  ;  hesitated  a  few 
moments,  and  then  in  a  body  went  down  to  meet 
the  company  as  they  landed.  The  high-born  leader 
stepped  ashore,  the  story  goes,  with  a  hoe  on  his 
shoulder,  a  straightforward  young  man  who  pre- 
sented himself  as  Philip  Carteret,  the  first  Governor 
of  New  Jersey;  and  carried  the  rough  New  England 
farmers  and  whalers  by  storm  with  his  courtesy, 
though  they  knew  it  was  "  as  French  as  parley 
voos."  He  said  he  was  right  glad  to  find  some  of 
his  countrymen  already  settled  in  New  Jersey,  and 
hoped  they  would  remain  to  help  him  and  his  com- 
panions build  another  great  colony,  where  every 
man  should  have  the  rights  of  a  British  subject  and 
the  religion  of  his  own  conscience.     Then  he  intro- 


lO  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

duced  his  companions,  some  thirty  men  and  women, 
brought  from  France  for  their  skill,  or  carefully 
chosen  from  the  Jersey  estates;  all  of  whom  the 
Puritans  met  awkwardly,  for  their  looks  and  speech 
and  ready  gestures  showed  that  they  were  of  the 
blood  most  hateful  to  the  common  Englishman. 
Yet  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  to  do  but  offer  the 
hospitality  of  the  four  new  houses,  which  the 
strangers  received  so  gratefully  and  gracefully  that 
some  of  the  prejudice  melted  away. 

Governor  Carteret  told  the  alarmed  associates 
that  his  terms  to  settlers  were  better  than  those  of 
the  Duke,  as  indeed  they  were.  What  was  more, 
they  were  offered  in  good  faith.  They  included  a 
representative  Assembly  to  be  elected  once  in  two 
years,  and  to  act  with  the  governor,  secretary,  and 
council  appointed  by  the  proprietors.  They  pro- 
mised protection  to  all  Christian  religions.  As  to 
land,  every  settler  reaching  the  colony  at  his  own 
cost  was  granted  a  freehold  of  fifty  acres  for  each 
member  of  his  family,  servant,  or  slave,  at  the  small 
rent  of  one  penny  the  acre,  and  that  not  to  be  called 
for  until  after  five  years  —  until  1670,  a  date  to  be 
remembered.  Every  indented  servant,  at  the  end 
of  his  bondage,  should  have  fifty  acres  and  all  the 
rights  of  a  freeholder.  These,  in  brief,  were  the 
proprietors'  conditions  to  colonists,  an  enlightened 
document  that  stands  out  in  the  rather  flat  history 
of  New  Jersey;  but  it  became  a  mere  bone  of  con- 
tention, for  the  Puritans  would  never  live  up  to 
their  side  of  it,  while  its  promises  were  always  on 
their  angry  tongues  as  their  irrevocable  rights. 


NE  W  JERSE  K,  EI E Til  COLONY  I  I 

It  tempted  the  ''  Affter  Cull  Colonic  "  to  remain ; 
and  when  Carteret  had  confirmed  NicoUs's  grant, 
they  allowed  him  and  others  to  buy  shares  in  it  and 
enter  their  town  association.  The  tract  was  named 
Elizabeth  Town,  in  honour  of  the  wife  of  Sir  George 
Carteret,  and  the  four  clapboarded  houses  on  the 
"  fresh-water  river  "  became  the  capital. 

The  Dutch  colonists  readily  gave  allegiance  to  the 
new  proprietors.  The  Governor  extended  their 
grants  from  the  Hudson,  across  the  Hackensack,  to 
the  Passaic  River,  adding  to  their  heights  several 
miles  of  well-timbered,  stream-cut  lowland.  He 
also  organised  or  confirmed  for  their  towns  a  court 
at  Bergen,  which  then  could  boast  at  least  thirty- 
three  heads  of  families,  a  justice,  four  magistrates, 
a  constable,  a  town  clerk,  an  ensign,  and  last  but 
not  least,  a  newly  licensed  tavern-keeper.  He 
probably  was  the  first  of  the  long  list  of  Dutch 
publicans  famous  for  good  beer,  as  the  English 
afterwards  were  for  their  applejack,  celebrated  as 
"  Jersey  lightning." 

In  1665,  the  people  of  at  least  four  Dutch  towns 
and  the  English  capital,  together  with  some  scat- 
tered settlers,  were  established  as  the  Province  of 
New  Jersey,  under  this 

"  Oath  of  A  Leagance  and  Fidelity:  You  doe  suare  upon 
the  Holy  Evangelist  contained  in  this  book  to  bare  true 
faith  and  Alegiance  to  our  Soveraing  Lord  King  Charles 
and  his  Successors  and  to  be  true  and  faithfull  to  the 
Lords  propryetors  their  Successors  and  the  government 
of  this   Province  of    New  Jarsey  as  long  as  you    shall 


12  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Continue  an  Inhabitant  under  the  same  without  any 
EXjuivocation  or  Mentall  Reservation  whatsoever  and  so 
help  you  God." 

There  is  no  record  or  map  to  show  where  the 
founders  of  Elizabeth  Town  placed  their  first  meet- 
ing-house, which  they  raised  as  soon  as  possible  for 
Puritans,  Anglicans,  and  Catholics  to  use  at  differ- 
ent times  for  their  widely  different  forms  of  worship. 
It  was  also  their  town  hall,  no  doubt;  where  might 
be  found  on  week  days  the  threefold  of^cer,  secre- 
tary of  the  province,  town  clerk,  and  justice  of  the 
peace.  Whether  it  was  a  plain  room  or  well  fur- 
nished, we  know  not;  nor  whether  the  "  Captain  " 
behind  the  desk  was  Mr.  BuUen,  an  English-Yankee 
trader,  or  Monsieur  Bulaine,  from  France;  but  there 
he  was,  performing  the  marriage  ceremony,  writing 
letters  to  the  proprietors,  and  driving  his  quill  across 
the  pages  of  the  Town  Book,  whose  loss,  some  fifty 
years  later,  obscures  the  whole  story. 

Much  trouble  was  taken  to  prevent  colonists  from 
leaving  the  town ;  but  soon  it  was  difficult  to  ac- 
commodate ncAvcomers.  The  proprietors,  or  Sir 
George  Carteret  alone,  sent  over  several  colonies  of 
men  and  women,  with  supplies,  farming  tools,  and 
fishing  tackle.  Many  came  from  other  colonies,  for 
the  Governor,  following  Nicolls's  example,  had  the 
Concessions  read  aloud  in  the  public  squares  of  a 
great  many  villages.  They  always  made  a  stir,  for 
the  promises  they  contained  were  exceedingly  se- 
ductive. Freedom  of  conscience  and  equal  repre- 
sentation to  all  Christian  freeholders;  none  but  mild 


NE  W  J  ERSE  F,  FIFTH  COLON  V  1 3 

and  friendly  Indians;  a  garden  spot  of  fertile  soil; 
spring  nearly  a  month  earlier  and  autumn  a  month 
later  than  in  New  England— the  whole  winter  some- 
times "  open."  The  last  promise  was  sometimes 
so  far  from  true  that  people  could  walk  on  the  ice  all 
the  way  to  New  York.  But  hundreds  of  dissatisfied 
New  Englanders  heard  Carteret's  call  for  settlers  as 
a  sign  from  Heaven,  promising  them  a  life  accord- 
ing to  their  own  particular  views.  In  these  days  of 
Christian  unity  it  is  interesting  to  look  back  almost 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  and  see  how  nearly  the 
desires  of  those  widely  differing  congregations  were 
met  in  the  new  provinces,  yet  how  each  believed  all 
others  to  be  utterly  wrong  and  chafed  sorely  that 
they  could  not  be  convinced. 

Eight  new  towns  were  started  within  two  years. 
The  Elizabeth  Town  Association  sold  large  slices  of 
their  grant  on  both  sides,  providing  their  sons  with 
many  bitter  boundary  quarrels.  In  1666,  the  plot 
on  the  north  of  the  famous  Bound  Brook,  along  the 
banks  of  the  Passaic  River,  was  planted  chiefly  by 
parties  of  uncompromising  Puritans  of  the  New- 
haven  colony,  who  shook  the  dust  of  New  England 
from  their  feet  rather  than  live  under  the  liberal 
commonwealth  of  Connecticut.  First  was  the  town 
of  Milford,  then  Guilford  and  Branford  followed, 
all  uniting  under  that  able  man  of  truly  divine  call- 
ing, Abram  Pearson,  for  whose  birthplace  in  Eng- 
land, the  plantation  was  named  Newark — for  many 
years  written  *'  New-worke  on  the  Pishawack  River. " 
The  Branford  people  had  joined  only  on  condition 
that  rigid  Congregationalism  should  be  transplanted 


14 


THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 


as  Davenport  laid  it  down  for  Newhaven,  and  that 
both  freemen  and  office-holders  of  the  town  should 
be  church  members.  The  Puritanical  identity  of 
Church  and  State  government  which  had  been  over- 
powered in  Newhaven  by  the  liberality  of  Con- 
necticut, and  which  had  begun  to  fall  apart  of  its 


^     ,MM^ 


FIRST    CHURCH    IN    NEWARK. 
Redrawn  from  Whitehead's  History  of  Perth  A  inboy . 

own  weight  in  Massachusetts,  made  its  last  effort  in 
New  Jersey,  defying  the  very  toleration  of  which  it 
availed  itself,  and  proving  its  fallibility  by  the  side 
of  tolerant  Cavalier  Anglicans,  French  Catholics, 
and  the  most  despised  of  all  sects,  George  Fox's 
Friends,  derisively  called  Quakers. 

South  of  Elizabeth  Town  men  of  quite  different 
stamp  from  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire 
planted  Woodbridge,  Piscataqua,  what  is  now  New 


NE  IV  JEKSE  V,  FIF  TH  COL  ONY  15 

Brunswick,  and  other  places,  while  a  party  of 
Quakers  settled  Shrewsbury  and  Middletown  under 
the  Monmouth  patent,  from  Nicolls,  with  rights  of 
government  over  a  large  tract  between  the  Raritan 
River  and  Sandy  Hook,  which  they  bought  from  the 
Navesink  Indians.  After  they  were  established,  the 
Duke  of  York  and  the  Elizabeth  Town  Puritans 
made  common  cause  to  drive  them  away,  but  Car- 
teret stood  by  the  Concessions,  confirmed  Nicolls's 
grant,  and  found  his  own  way  to  pacify  his  towns- 
men and  protect  the  Friends.  Shrewsbury,  which 
was  laid  out  in  1667,  apparently  the  first  place  in 
the  world  under  Quaker  control,  soon  became  the 
rallying  point  for  all  the  missionaries,  refugees,  and 
colonists  of  the  sect  in  America.  In  June  the  set- 
tlers held  an  Assembly  of  their  own  at  Portland 
Point,  now  the  Highlands  of  Navesink,  and  we  may 
still  read  their  records  of  "  such  prudential  laws  as 
they  deemed  advisable." 

The  next  year,  in  May,  1668,  Governor  Carteret 
called  to  Elizabeth  Town  a  General  Assembly  of  re- 
presentatives of  *'all  the  freeholders  in  New  Jersey," 
but  he  knew  nothing  of  the  few  scattered  Dutch 
and  Swedes  on  the  other  side  of  the  peninsula,  and 
his  call  did  not  reach  them.  The  Governor  and  his 
Council  of  Six  sat  as  an  Upper  House  from  the  first, 
and  the  eight  delegates  or  burgesses  as  a  Lower 
House.  This  was  fifteen  years  before  New  York 
had  the  full  privilege  of  representative  government. 
The  colonists  were  in  the  midst  of  spring  planting, 
and  in  five  days  their  whole  business  was  despatched, 
elections  arranged,  taxes  voted, — five  pounds  a  year 


1 6  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

for  each  town, — the  value  of  produce  fixed  for  ex- 
change (winter  wheat  five  shillings  the  bushel,  for 
instance),  a  military  company  organised  under  com- 
mand of  the  Governor,  and  a  body  of  laws  adopted 
from  those  of  Connecticut.  In  this  Elizabeth  Town 
Code,  as  it  w^as  pretentiously  called,  "  Puritan  aus- 
terity was  so  tempered  by  Dutch  indifference,  that 
mercy  itself  could  not  have  dictated  a  milder  sys- 
tem." But  the  Puritans  could  not  fraternise  with 
the  Quakers,  and  showed  it  so  brusquely  that  the 

Navysink  men,"  having  rights  of  their  own  to  fall 
back  upon,  withdrew  in  high  dudgeon,  and  appar- 
ently governed  themselves  for  about  seven  years. 

This  quarrel  was  the  first  shot  in  a  long  war,  or 
rather  a  free  fight,  w^hich  spread  throughout  the 
Puritan  settlements ;  the  towns  against  the  govern- 
ment, one  town  against  another,  the  colonists  against 
their  neighbours;  w^ith  the  capital  the  hotbed  of  it 
all,  to  the  end  of  the  palatinate,  even  to  the  end  of 
the  province. 

While  they  quarrelled  the  people  worked  and  pro- 
spered mightily.  In  1669,  the  Governor  chartered 
the  Elizabeth  Town  Whaling  Company,  giving 
twenty-one  men  exclusive  right  to  take  w^hales  and 
other  fish  along  the  wdiole  coast  to  Barnegat,  a 
twentieth  of  the  oil  in  casks  going  to  the  pro- 
prietors. An  old  chronicle  says,  "  it  is  not  possible 
to  describe  how  this  bay  swarms  w^ith  fish,  both 
large  and  small,  whales,  tunnies,  and  porpoises." 

In  March,  1670,  then  (according  to  the  Old  Style 
chronology),  the  beginning  of  the  new  year,  the 
proprietors*  first  rent  was  due,  the  almost  nominal 


NE  IV  J  ERSE  V,  FIFTH  COLON  V  1 7 

penny  per  acre,  from  which  everyone  had  been  ex- 
cused for  five  years,  and  which  was  now  divided 
into  half-yearly  collections.  Apparently  every  set- 
tler in  the  province  had  accepted  this  clause  in  the 
Concessions,  as  much  as  those  in  regard  to  religious 
freedom  and  self-government,  yet  the  Governor's 
call  for  the  collection  was  answered  by  a  furious 
burst  of  anger  from  almost  every  settler  except  the 
Carteret  colonists,  the  Dutch,  and  the  people  of 
Woodbridge. 

The  others  refused  to  pay  their  rent,  reviled  the 
Governor,  and  so  roughly  used  the  collector  that  he 
feared  for  his  life.  Every  act  of  Carteret  and  his 
adherents  gave  fresh  offence.  The  frenzy  was 
vented  especially  on  the  French  settlers.  A  certain 
estimable  fellow,  when  made  a  freeholder  by  Car- 
teret, was  mobbed  by  the  resentful  English,  who 
"  tore  up  his  fences,  beat  down  the  clapboards  of 
his  house,  plucked  up  the  pallasades  of  the  garden, 
and  the  hoggs  within  an  hour's  time  rooted  up  and 
spoiled  all  that  was  in  the  garden,  v/hich  was  full  of 
necessary  herbs." 

When  Captain  James  Carteret,  a  son  of  the  pro- 
prietor, visited  this  province  on  his  way  to  take  up 
the  hollow  honours  of  a  landgrave  of  Carolina,  the 
rioters  welcomed  him  as  one  who  had  authority 
above  the  Governor,  and  he  was  rascal  enough  to 
give  his  unlawful  sanction  to  almost  all  they  wanted, 
and  to  play  Governor,  while  his  kinsman  was  obliged 
to  hide  in  Bergen  till  he  could  slip  away  to  England. 
The  Council  was  steadfast,  and  wrote  to  the  pro- 
prietors of  Captain  James's  conduct: 


1 8  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

"Although  hee  be  Sir  George  Carteret's  sonn,  and  for 
his  Father's  sake  we  Honnour  him  accordingly,  yet  our 
oune  reason  doth  persuade  us  that  his  Hon^''''  Father  will 
never  Countenance  his  son  in  such  dishonorable,  unjust 
and  violent  proceedings." 

Not  only  Sir  George,  but  the  King  and  the  Duke, 
came  down  heavily  upon  the  offenders,  declaring 
Philip  Carteret  and  no  other  the  Governor,  requir- 
ing every  tenant  to  renew  his  title  and  pay  his  quit- 
rent,  ordering  indemnification  for  those  whose 
property  had  been  destroyed,  and  announcing  that 
the  people  had  forfeited  some  of  their  privileges. 

Captain  James,  commanded  by  his  aged  father 
to  proceed  to  Carolina  without  delay,  took  passage 
with  his  newly  married  wife  and  a  few  of  his  ring- 
leaders. Their  vessel  was  overhauled  by  part  of 
the  great  Dutch  squadron,  which  was  casting  an 
eye  on  the  colonies,  after  having  almost  swept  the 
commerce  of  England  from  the  seas.  One  of  Cap- 
tain James's  companions,  Samuel  Hopkins,  took  his 
revenge  on  King,  Duke,  proprietors,  and  Governor 
at  one  blow  by  telling  the  Dutchmen  of  the  weak- 
ness of  the  defences  of  all  the  country  once  New 
Netherland.  Although  another  prisoner  gave  him 
the  lie,  the  commanders  decided  to  visit  the  harbour, 
and  he,  returning  with  them,  saw  them  take  both 
provinces  from  the  English  in  September,  1673. 

In  the  fourteen  months  under  the  States-General, 
the  six  towns  ''heretofore  called  New  Yarsey  " 
were  united  in  a  government  of  their  own  under 
schout,  koopman,  and  schepens,  who  met  "  to- 
gether as  one  board,"  until  they  received  the  news 


NE  W  JER SE  F,  FIF  Til  COL  ONY  19 

that  English  control  had  been  restored,  that  Lord 
Berkeley  had  sold  his  interest,  and  that  the  province 
had  been  divided  into  the  East  and  West  Jerseys. 
Sir  George  Carteret  was  sole  proprietor  of  East 
Jersey,  and  Governor  Philip  was  coming  back. 

Sir  George  Carteret  lived  but  six  years  after  he 
became  sole  proprietor  of  East  Jersey,  in  1675,  but 
the  palatinate,  under  many  changes,  survived  him 
twenty-one  years.  When  Governor  Philip  returned, 
with  the  Concessions  cut  down  and  proofs  of  his 
authority  countersigned  by  both  the  King  and  the 
Duke  of  York,  there  was  an  uproar  at  once;  strong 
drink,  strong  talk,  town-meetings,  and  messengers 
going  from  place  to  place  with  calls  for  united  re- 
sistance. But  the  Governor  proclaimed  that  they 
and  not  the  Lord  Proprietor  had  broken  the  old 
agreement,  that  titles  under  the  old  patents  had 
been  annulled,  and  that  the  only  way  to  escape  the 
laws  of  that  province  was  to  go  elsewhere.  The 
government  was  still  probably  the  most  liberal  of 
any  founded  upon  English  Common  Law.  The 
people  knew  it,  quieted  down,  and  took  out  their 
new  deeds,  allowing  peace  and  prosperity  to  possess 
the  province  for  five  years.  The  Navesink  Friends 
took  their  places  in  the  Assembly,  which  met  reg- 
ularly every  year  at  Elizabeth,  Woodbridge,  or  Mid- 
dle Town.  An  Act  of  Oblivion  was  passed,  and  a 
Thanksgiving  Day  of  prayer  and  feasting  was  ap- 
pointed when  the  autumn  harvest  was  gathered  in. 
Every  able-bodied  male  between  the  ages  of  sixteen 
and  sixty  was  enrolled  in  the  militia,  subject  to  four 
training  days  a  year,  which  were  made  holidays  after 


20  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

the  custom  in  the  colonies.  The  towns  were  pro- 
vided at  this  early  time  with  their  minute-men,  to 
be  ready  for  quick  calls,  and  with  fortified  block- 
houses for  refuge.  It  was  an  offence  —  seldom 
punished,  perhaps  —  to  sell  arms  and  powder  to  the 
natives,  and  even  to  repair  guns  they  already  pos- 
sessed. These  were  precautions  against  the  spread 
of  the  Indian  wars  of  New  England,  which,  however, 
never  touched  New  Jersey. 

Scarcely  any  province  had  so  little  from  without 
to  interrupt  its  fisheries,  the  increase  of  its  fruitful 
farms,  its  stock-raising,  manufacture  of  tallow  and 
lard,  tobacco-growing,  and  commerce  in  both  green 
and  tanned  hides,  beef  and  pork,  which  were  in- 
spected and  sealed  before  they  were  shipped  up  and 
down  the  coast,  or  to  Barbadoes  and  St.  Christ- 
opher. This  industry  and  enterprise  the  propri- 
etor rewarded  by  opening  all  the  ports  to  free  trade. 
But  the  great  increase  of  business  excited  the  envy 
of  the  Governor  of  New  York,  Major  Edmund 
Andros,  who,  though  a  kinsman  of  Carteret,  induced 
the  avaricious  Duke  to  give  him  an  oar  to  thrust 
into  the  profitable  Jersey  waters.  Possibly  know- 
ing what  Philip  did  not  know,  that  old  Sir  George 
was  dying,  Andros  insisted  on  controlling  not  only 
the  commerce  but  the  government  of  his  small 
neighbouring  colony,  and  when,  for  a  wonder,  the 
people  united  with  their  Governor  in  an  admirable 
resistance,  Andros  sent  a  party  of  blacklegs  by 
night,  who  seized  Philip  in  his  bed  and  carried  him, 
half  naked,  in  an  open  boat  to  New  York  —  rough 
usage  which  permanently  injured   his   health.      In 


NEW  JERSEY,  FIFTH  COLONY  21 

the  city,  he  was  treated  as  a  distinguished  prisoner, 
while  Andros  trumped  up  a  charge  against  him  and 
called  a  special  court  in  which  he  himself  sat  as 
judge.  But  he  failed  to  secure  a  verdict,  although 
he  sent  out  the  jury  twice.  Then  he  declared  that 
the  matter  should  be  decided  in  England,  and, 
wringing  from  Philip  a  promise  that  he  would  make 
no  attempt  to  resume  his  government,  he  allowed 
him  to  live  in  his  own  home  and  nurse  his  injuries. 
An  old  record  says  that  Andros  *'  attended  by  his 
whole  retinue  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  escorted 
Carteret  ...  in  great  pomp  to  Acher  Kol, 
with  all  the  magnificence  he  could."  At  Elizabeth 
Town  the  party  were  craftily  received.  The  As- 
sembly presented  the  Concessions  and  their  own 
laws  for  Andros's  ratification,  listened  to  his  pomp- 
ous address,  and  responded  so  politely,  that  he 
failed  to  see  any  special  point  to  their  loyal  depend- 
ence on  "  the  Great  Charter  of  England,  the  only 
rule,  privilege,  and  joint-safety  of  every  free-born 
Englishman."  He  returned  to  the  city  believing 
that  they  hung  on  his  will.  But  after  Carteret  re- 
covered suflficiently  to  marry  a  lady  pledged  to  him 
and  return  from  his  wedding  journey,  before  An- 
dros knew  it,  the  people's  outburst  of  welcome  re- 
placed him  in  the  Governor's  chair  by  acclamation. 
This  was  in  1680.  No  miracle  had  been  wrought  in 
the  hearts  of  the  colonists.  They  thought  by  this 
manoeuvre  to  drive  or  coax  the  proprietor's  repre- 
sentative into  a  declaration  of  "  the  old  fundamental 
rights,"  as  they  called  the  first  Concessions;  but  he 
was  the  same  man  as  of  old,  and  after  trying  for  a 


22  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

year  and  a  half  to  bring  the  Assembly  to  reason  he 
dissolved  it.  Then  came  the  news  that  Sir  George 
Carteret  was  dead,  and  that  the  province  had  been 
sold  to  Quakers  and  Presbyterians. 

EAST    JERSEY    UNDER    FRIENDS    AND    PRESBYTERIANS 

In  February,  1681,  East  Jersey  was  bought  at 
auction  with  all  its  debts  and  dues  for  three  thou- 
sand four  hundred  pounds  by  an  association  mostly 
composed  of  rich  Friends  and  Presbyterians,  both 
English  and  Scotch.  They  believed  that  they  were 
killing  two  very  big  birds  with  one  stone  by  secur- 
ing a  monopoly  over  a  goodly  portion  of  American 
trade  which  had  sprung  up  in  New  Jersey,  and  pro- 
viding an  independent  refuge  for  the  persecuted 
of  their  sects.  This  East  Jersey  Association,  while 
constantly  changing  its  members  and  modifying  its 
plans,  gave  money  and  men  for  twenty  years  to  the 
success  of  refuge-making  and  the  failure  of  the  trade 
monopoly.  For  about  seven  years  they  were  ruled 
by  a  Governor,  appointed  for  life — Robert  Barclay, 
the  great  Quaker  apologist  and  friend  of  the  Stu- 
arts. His  first  Deputy-Governor,  who  displaced 
Philip  Carteret,  was  Thomas  Rudyard,  a  Quaker 
barrister  from  London. 

To  the  Puritanical  towns  this  change  was  a  de- 
gree worse  than  anything  their  irritability  had  ever 
dreamed  of;  but  Friend  Rudyard  and  the  company 
he  brought  spread  peace,  and  a  better  spirit  than 
had  ever  been  known  prevailed  as  long  as  the  Asso- 
ciation owned  the  province,  although  the  first  settlers 


NE  W  JERSE  V,  FIFTH  COLON  V  23 

never  gave  up  their  claim  to  "  the  old  fundamental 
rights,"  and  the  colony  was  never  secure  against 
meddling  from  New  York.  The  government  and 
laws  were  much  the  same  as  they  had  been,  though 
trade  was  no  longer  free.  A  new  act  was  passed 
against  negro  slavery.  Popular  as  that  traffic  had 
been  for  ten  years  under  the  Duke's  Royal  African 
Company,  there  were  as  yet  only  about  one  hundred 
blacks  in  all  the  settlements  here,  even  while  the 
richer  families  prided  themselves  on  being  up  in 
New  York  fashions. 

Rudyard's  Assembly  took  pains  to  establish  fer- 
ries, build  landings  and  bridges,  and  lay  out  high- 
ways, of  which  there  was  great  need;  but  the  chief 
undertaking  of  the  new  proprietors  was  to  found  a 
new  capital  which  should  be  the  commercial  me- 
tropolis of  America.  Taking  no  soundings  appar- 
ently, their  officers  chose  for  this  site  the  place 
where  a  small  stream,  probably  called  Ambo  by  the 
Indians,  falls  into  the  head  of  the  shallow  Raritan 
Bay.  This  **  Western  London  "  was  named  Perth 
Amboy,  in  honour  of  the  leading  proprietor,  James 
Drummond,  Earl  of  Perth,  Lord  High  Chancellor 
of  Scotland.  Open  purses  and  lively  work  made  it 
possible  for  the  second  Deputy-Governor,  Gawen 
Laurie,  to  hold  there  the  spring  Assembly  of  1686. 
He  declared  it  "  conveniently  situated  .  .  .  the 
most  encouraging  place  for  traffic  by  land  and  sea, 
which  will  occasion  great  course  of  people."  But 
the  older  villages  still  kept  the  lead,  and  after  years 
of  struggle  the  capital  was  moved  back  to  Elizabeth 
Town. 


24  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

Laurie  was  instructed  "  to  use  all  means  of  gen- 
tleness and  tenderness  with  the  people" — "not 
standing  much  with  them  upon  small  matters." 
He  "  got  to  good  understanding  with  them,"  and 
became  enthusiastic  about  the  country,  writing 
home: 

"  Now  is  the  time  to  send  over  people  for  settling  here. 
The  Scots  and  William  Dockwra's  people,  coming  now 
and  settling,  advance  the  Province  more  than  it  hath 
been  advanced  these  ten  years.  Here  wants  nothing 
but  people.  There  is  not  a  poor  body  in  all  the  pro- 
vince, nor  that  wants;  Here  is  abundance  of  provision 
Pork  and  Beef  at  2d.  per  pound.  Fish  and  Fowl  plenty. 
Oysters  I  think  would  serve  all  England.  Sider  good 
and  plenty  for  id.  per  Quart.  Good  Venison,  plenty 
brought  us  [by  Indians]  at  i8d.  the  quarter,  eggs  at  3d. 
the  dozen,  all  things  very  plenty.  Land  very  good  as 
ever  I  saw.  Wines  [grape  and  berry  vines]  walnuts, 
peaches,  Strawberries,  and  many  other  things  plenty  in 
the  woods.  Nor  is  this  all.  We  have  good  brick  earth 
and  stone  for  building  at  Amboy  and  elsewhere." 

He  added  a  long  list  of  the  varieties  of  timber 
growing  on  swamp  and  upland.  Other  leaders 
wrote  in  the  same  key,  and  together  they  made 
perhaps  the  most  glowing  impression  that  the  Old 
Country  ever  had  in  favour  of  the  colonies. 

Meantime  the  Association  had  lost  in  Friends, 
who  had  their  own  province  of  West  Jersey,  but 
had  increased  in  Presbyterians;  and  when  Macken- 
zie and  Clavcrhousc,  under  the  new  King,  James 
n.,  took  their  course  through  Scotland  in  the  terrible 


NEW  JERSEY,  FIFTH  COLONY  25 

**  Killing  Time,"  tlie  two  most  bitterly  hunted 
bodies  of  Presbyterians,  the  Cameronians  and  Cov- 
enanters, fled  to  East  Jersey.  Rich  men  came  over 
to  occupy  their  own  estates  with  large  families, 
servants,  and  tenants.  Poor  men  joined  the  stream 
to  take  up  the  new  life  on  any  terms  they  could 
make.  So  in  1686  this  pleasant  country  became 
the  cradle  of  Presbyterianism  in  America." 

**  From  the  profound  scholarship  of  the  clergy  and  the 
ability  of  tlie  merchants  in  the  upper  classes,  to  the  rigid 
industry  and  thrift  of  the  peasantry,  this  influx  swelled 
the  towns  with  a  valuable  accession  of  virtue  refined  by 
adversity." 

Among  these  refugees  was  Lord  Neill  Campbell, 
an  important  member  of  the  Association,  who  had 
been  made  Deputy-Governor  in  haste  and  fled  for 
his  life.  When  the  King  issued  the  "Declaration  of 
Indulgence,"  he  returned  to  his  wife  in  Scotland, 
leaving  the  province  in  charge  of  his  Council.  The 
leading  member  and  acting  Governor  was  Colonel 
Andrew  Hamilton,  an  Edinburgh  merchant,  who 
became  a  distinguished  lawyer,  was  afterwards 
Deputy-Governor  of  both  East  and  West  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  and  still  later  the  long-honoured 
Speaker  of  the  Assembly  of  William  Penn's  pro- 
vince. With  some  breaks  Hamilton  kept  this  post 
at  the  head  of  East  Jersey  during  the  remaining 
fifteen  years  of  the  proprietary  government,  com- 
pelling the  admiration  of  all  by  his  character,  intel- 
ligence, and  courtesy. 

He  was  retained,  with  most  of  his  fellow-oflicers, 


26  THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

in  the  famous  overturning  in  1687,  when  Governor- 
General  Sir  Edmund  Andros  declared  the  province 
part  of  his  Majesty's  Dominion  of  New  England, 
which  fell  to  pieces  the  next  spiing  on  news  of  the 
King's  abandonment  of  the  throne.  Hamilton 
checked  some  "  factious  spirits,"  who  wanted  to 
join  Leisler's  Rebellion  in  New  York,  and  kept  the 
peace  so  well  that,  Presbyterian  as  it  was,  the  pro- 
vince became  a  refuge  for  Jacobites  from  England, 
as  well  as  from  New  York  and  other  colonies.  Many 
of  them  were  persons  of  wealth  and  influence. 
Leisler  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  that  hither 
"  our  chief  adversaries  fly  for  sanctuary  and  are 
embraced," 

The  proprietors  quietly  resumed  their  rights, 
made  Hamilton  Governor  on  Barclay's  death,  and 
ordered  the  proclamation  of  William  and  Mary. 
All  went  well  until  Hamilton  was  obliged  to  "  re- 
quest "  the  Assembly's  aid  to  defend  the  New 
York  frontier.  Then  reason  and  restraint  went  to 
the  winds.  Who  was  William  HI.  that  he  should 
force  the  people  of  East  Jersey  into  their  first  war 
with  white  men  or  Indians  ?  The  new  grievances 
revived  old  ones.  Indignation  raged  from  Assem- 
bly to  town-meeting,  increased  by  every  ofificial  act 
intended  to  restore  order.  The  "noise  and  howling 
of  the  people  "  actually  closed  one  of  the  county 
courts.  Amidst  the  uproar,  someone  cried  out  for 
the  claims  of  the  Elizabeth  Town  Association  as 
heirs  of  the  "  Affter  Cull  Colonie,"  to  all  that  they 
imagined  they  had  received  under  NicoUs's  grants 
or  "the  Dukes  patents" — ignoring  the  fact  that 


NEW  JERSEY,  FIFTH  COLONY  2/ 

the  Duke  had  sold  the  province  before  they  were 
made.  Although  they  had  been  acknowledged  as 
worthless  for  twenty  years,  men  who  had  held  shares 
in  them  began  to  insist  on  payment  in  full  for  ar- 
rears of  rent  from  settlers  on  the  "  original  tract  " 
under  Carteret  grants,  or,  in  lieu  of  rent,  to  claim  the 
dwellings,  farms,  and  all  improvements.  These 
atrocious  demands  were  pushed  in  the  courts  by  a 
test  case,  in  which  so  many  persons  were  interested 
on  the  one  side  or  the  other  that  the  long  trial  was 
one  of  the  most  important  events  in  the  colony's 
history.  Excitement  only  increased  when  the  jury 
rendered  their  verdict  in  favour  of  **  the  Duke's 
grant,"  and  the  judgment  of  the  court  was  against 
it.  An  appeal  was  carried  to  the  King  in  Council, 
and  William,  in  1697,  actually  sustained  the  jury, 
declaring  valid  all  titles  under  Nicolls's  grant,  giv- 
ing powers  to  turn  out  of  house  and  home  hundreds 
of  families  who  had  believed  that  the  "  Affter  Cull 
Colonie  "  had  acted  in  good  faith  when  they  had 
accepted  the  Carteret  titles  in  place  of  Nicolls's 
nearly  thirty-five  years  before. 

There  were  many  evil  results  of  this  decision,  but 
one  great  benefit  was  that  the  Elizabeth  Town  As- 
sociation, then  numbering  one  hundred  and  twenty 
members,  began  to  open  up  the  unsettled  portion 
of  their  tract,  which  contained  some  seventeen 
thousand  acres,  more  than  the  settled  portions. 
Their  title  was  unquestioned,  and  people  who  had 
long  been  afraid  of  them  now  made  plantations  at 
Connecticut  Farms,  Westfield,  and  other  places, 
toward  Springfield  and  Short  Hills.     At  about  the 


28  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

same  time  New-worke's  Mountain  Plantations  were 
named  Orange,  the  Dutch  title  of  the  King,  who, 
of  course,  was  in  high  favour  with  the  victorious 
party.  After  having  unearthed  one  old  bone  of 
contention  so  successfully,  the  "  factious  spirits  " 
next  disinterred  their  ancient  enmity  towards  the 
proprietors,  which  was  none  the  less  because  they 
were  many,  or  because  several  of  them  lived  in  the 
province.  Some  even  discovered  that  their  regula- 
tions called  for  an  English-born  governor,  while 
the  able  and  respected  Hamilton  was  a  Scotchman. 
The  proprietors  hastily  replaced  him  by  Jeremiah 
Basse,  a  popular  Anabaptist  minister  of  Perth  Am- 
boy,  who  rewarded  them  by  taking  the  leadership 
of  the  party  now  growing  into  a  general  opposition 
to  Hamilton,  the  proprietors,  "  the  majority  of  the 
people,  and  all  the  gentlemen  of  the  best  figure  and 
fortune."  Hamilton  went  to  England;  and  Wil- 
liam, who  had  never  recognised  the  proprietors' 
government,  sent  him  back  to  call  an  Assembly  in 
the  name  of  the  Crown.  The  delegates  met,  but 
were  dissolved  the  same  day,  "  to  keep  the  peace," 
which,  however,  was  hopelessly  broken  for  a  time. 
Basse  and  his  "  miscellaneous  mob  "  interrupted 
courts,  stopped  sheriffs  from  serving  papers,  and 
gave  themselves  over  to  general  "  breaking  of  Gaols, 
rescuing  of  Prisoners,  and  beating  and  abusing  of 
officers."  Besides  this  "  there  was  not  a  little  jeal- 
ousy between  Scotch  and  English,"  while  New 
York  again  had  an  eye  on  the  trade  of  its  small 
neighbour,  the  customs-officers,  and  even  the  As- 
sembly maintaining  that  their  capital  was  the  sole 


NEW  JERSEY,  FIFTH  COLONY  29 

port  of  entry  for  all  parts  of  New  York  Harbour, 
waylaying  the  shipping  and  putting  the  East  Jersey 
trade  to  confusion  year  after  year.  Even  when  the 
English  Admiralty  appointed  the  collector  for  Perth 
Amboy,  and  told  others  to  keep  their  hands  off,  the 
New  York  Assembly  laid  duties  on  all  its  exports, 
and  was  permitted  to  do  so  by  the  Board  of  Trade. 
The  commerce  was  so  large  that  as  many  as  forty 
vessels  at  once  had  been  seen  loading  with  wheat  at 
Perth  Amboy  alone.  The  proprietors'  rights  were 
recognised  by  the  King's  Bench;  but  when  the 
colonists  seized  upon  a  defect  disclosed  in  their  title 
to  petition  for  Crown  government,  the  proprietors 
assented,  saying  that  the  jurisdiction  had  long  been 
an  expensive  feather  which  they  would  gladly  see 
in  any  other  cap." 

WEST    JERSEY,     THE    FIRST    QUAKER    PROVINCE 

During  the  quarter-century  or  so  after  the  palat- 
inate of  New  Jersey  was  divided,  the  Delaware 
shores  of  the  peninsula  were  occupied  by  the 
Friends'  colony  of  West  Jersey,  whose  sovereign 
democracy  was  too  interesting  and  too  important 
an  element  in  the  colonial  development  to  be  neg- 
lected as  it  has  been  by  most  historians.  In  about 
the  year  1674,  when  the  "  independency  of  the 
Navysink  Quakers  "  and  "  turbulencies  "  reported 
by  Governor  Philip  Carteret  dampened  the  propri- 
etary enthusiasm  of  old  Lord  Berkeley,  the  associ- 
ates of  George  Fox  were  so  encouraged  by  his  view 
of  the  success  of  Friends  under  their  own  govern- 
ment at  "  Navysink,"   that  they  struck  a  bargain 


30  THE   THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

with  his  lordship,  finding  him  glad  enough  to  sell 
his  share  foi"  one  thousand  pounds  to  John  Fen- 
wick,  in  trust  for  Edward  Byllinge,  both  Friends. 
This  was  in  March,  1674.  In  July  of  the  next  year 
Sir  George  Carteret  agreed  with  them  to  a  line  of 
partition  drawn  from  the  ocean  at  Little  Egg  Har- 
bour to  the  north-western  corner,  touching  the 
Delaware  at  40°  41'. 

The  purchase  was  adjusted  so  that  Fenwick  re- 
ceived one  tenth  of  the  province  in  his  own  right, 
while  the  rest  was  held  for  Byllinge  and  his  cred- 
itors by  a  board  of  trustees,  members  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  including  William  Penn,  Gawen  Laurie, 
and  others  who  were  afterwards  interested  in  East 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania. 

Fenwick  was  their  pioneer.  In  1675,  with  his 
family,  servants  under  indenture  as  settlers,  and 
several  others,  he  chose  a  fertile  spot  already  his- 
toric, near  an  old  Swedish  fort  on  a  creek  bearing 
the  musical  Indian  name  of  Oijtessing  and  the  harsh 
English  one  of  Hog.  He  named  the  place  Salem 
because  Friends  loved  peace;  but  for  some  time  he 
was  not  permitted  by  the  officers  of  Governor  An- 
dros  of  New  York  to  enjoy  much  of  that  blessing. 
Once  he  was  taken  prisoner  to  the  city  and  again 
forced  to  make  the  voyage  thither,  probably  to 
show  papers  proving  his  title.  He  seems  to  have 
made  friends  with  the  Dutch  about  Nassau,  the 
Swedes  at  Swedesborough,  and  other  scattered  set- 
tlers on  this  shore.  It  was  about  two  years  before 
the  colony  began  to  arrive. 

Meanwhile  in   England   Byllinge's  trustees  drew 


NE  IV  J  ERSE  K,  FIFTH  COLON  V  3  I 

up  and  published  the  Fundamental  Laws  of  West 
Jersey,  in  which 

"  No  man  .  .  .  hath  power  over  conscience.  .  . 
The  General  Assembly  shall  be  chosen,  not  by  the  con- 
fused way  of  cries  and  voices,  but  by  the  ballot-box. 
Every  man  is  capable  to  choose  or  be  chosen.  The 
electors  shall  give  their  respective  deputies  instructions 
at  large,  which  these  in  their  turn  .  .  .  shall  bind 
themselves  to  obey.  The  disobedient  deputy  may  be 
questioned  before  the  Assembly  by  any  one  of  his  electors. 
Each  member  is  to  be  allowed  one  shilling  a  day  to  be 
paid  by  his  immediate  constituents  that  he  may  be  known 
as  the  servant  of  the  people.  The  executive  power 
rested  with  ten  commissioners  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Assembly;  justices  and  constables  were  chosen  directly 
by  the  people.  .  .  .  '  In  the  jury  of  twelve  men 
judgment  resides.  .  .  .  Every  person  in  the  province 
shall,  by  the  help  of  the  Lord  and  these  fundamentals, 
be  free  from  oppression  and  slavery.  No  one  can  be  im- 
prisoned for  debt.'  .  .  .  The  native  was  protected; 
and  helpless  orphans  educated  by  the  state." 

With  this  remarkable  constitution  and  the  good 
wishes  of  Charles  IL,  four  hundred  people,  the  first 
corporate  immigration  of  Friends  to  the  New  World, 
entered  the  Delaware  in  June,  1677,  under  Thomas 
Olive  and  eight  other  commissioners.  They  made 
one  settlement  on  Chygoes  Island,  sometimes  called 
Matineconk,  Tineconk,  or  Tennako,  where  there 
was  one  house,  deserted,  it  was  said,  because  two 
of  the  Dutchmen  who  built  it  or  lived  in  it  had  been 
murdered   by   Indians.      George    Fox    had   lodged 


32  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

there  five  years  before,  and  that  seemed  a  reason 
why  the  place,  so  good  in  itself,  should  be  made  the 
capital  of  the  colony.  In  a  tent  of  sail-cloth  the 
company  held  meeting.  The  Spirit  moved  them  to 
settle  at  once.  They  bought  the  island  of  the  In- 
dians, and  laid  out  their  town,  which  they  called 
Byllington,  and  at  length  Burlington.  Within  the 
year,  two  more  ships  brought  "  many  families  of 
great  respectability."  Neighbouring  sachems  sent 
word,  "  You  are  our  brothers,  and  we  will  live  like 
brothers  with  you";  but  Andros  and  the  New 
York  customs-officers  at  New  Castle  "  insulted  the 
sovereignty  of  the  proprietors."  Their  trouble 
was  carried  to  England  at  once,  and  after  three 
years  Sir  William  Jones,  then  Attorney-General, 
known  as  the  greatest  lawyer  in  England,  decided 
against  the  Duke,  whereupon  his  Royal  Highness 
made  a  new  grant  to  the  trustees,  yielding  them 
every  claim  to  the  territory,  trade,  and  government 
of  New  Jersey. 

Edward  Byllinge,  the  father  of  this  undertaking, 
was  naturally  elected  Governor  by  his  trustees.  He 
appointed  Samuel  Jennings  Deputy-Governor,  and 
he,  in  November,  1681,  called  the  first  Assembly, 
which,  says  Bancroft,  "  framed  their  government 
on  the  basis  of  humanity.  Neither  faith,  nor  wealth, 
nor  race  was  respected."  Even  Byllinge's  claim  to 
name  his  deputy  was  resisted.  On  the  advice  of 
William  Penn  the  constitution  was  amended  and  by 
election  the  office  was  given  to  Andrew  Hamilton, 
the  able  Scot  who  for  several  years  had  been  Deputy- 
Governor  of  East  Jersey.     The  colony  was  increased 


NEW  JERSEY,  FIFTH  COLONY 


33 


by  people  from  many  parts  of  Europe,  especially 
from  Germany  —  by  such  great  numbers  who  were 
not  Friends  that  their  government  was  overpowered. 
Andros  again  interfered,  and  the  people  petitioned 
to  be  taken  under  the  Crown  at  about  the  same  time 
that  East  Jersey  made  the  same  request. 


CHAPTER    II 


A   DUAL   ROYAL   PROVINCE 


AT  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  and 
of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  the  two  Jerseys, 
without  any  change  in  their  proprietors'  titles  to  the 
land,  were  united  under  one  government  of  the 
regulation  royal  pattern,  which  stood  for  seventy- 
three  years;  but  in  every-day  talk,  and  even  in  offi- 
cial papers,  the  names  East  and  West  Jersey  and 
strong  local  feeling  were  kept  up  until  after  the 
Revolution.  Both  divisions  were  about  equally  re- 
presented in  the  Council  as  well  as  in  the  House  of 
Burgesses;  and  the  General  Assembly  met  altern- 
ately in  Burlington  and  one  of  the  eastern  capitals, 
Perth  Amboy  or  Elizabeth  Town.  The  government, 
though  less  liberal  than  those  of  the  proprietors, 
allowed  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  Christians  but 
Papists,  took  the  Quakers'  word  without  oath,  and 
allowed  the  House  to  keep  immediate  control  of  the 
Crown  officers'  salaries. 

Although  for  thirty-six  years  New  Jersey  was 
governed  by  the  men  really  selected  for  New  York, 
and  under  much  the  same  instructions,     events  are 

34 


A    DUAL   ROYAL  PROVLNCE  35 

not  pointed  off  by  their  terms  as  in  the  larger  pro- 
vince. Indeed,  the  story  of  the  colony  is  mostly  a 
shapeless  muddle  of  making  laws  only  to  unmake 
them,  of  land-quarrels,  sectarian  bitterness,  and 
hatred  for  all  authority.  As  if  Fate  served  the 
restless  people  in  the  measure  of  their  folly,  the  first 
Governor,  for  whom  they  turned  out  Andrew  Hamil- 
ton, was  her  Majesty's  burdensome  cousin.  Lord 
Cornbury.  For  six  years  he  left  everything  to  his 
tool,  Lieutenant-Governor  Richard  Ingoldsby,  ex- 
cept business  in  which  he  had  his  own  axe  to  grind. 
Dickering  with  the  Royal  African  Company,  he  saw 
that  this  province,  as  well  as  the  big  one,  had  "  a 
constant  and  sufificient  supply  of  merchantable 
negroes  at  moderate  rates  in  money  or  commodi- 
ties." In  spite  of  all  the  Friends  could  do,  the 
household  service  and  farm-work  of  most  well-to-do 
families  in  the  towns  were  put  into  the  hands  of 
"  blacks."  Cornbury  furthered  much-needed  public 
works,  through  Assemblies  packed  with  men  who 
voted  money  to  lodge  something  in  every  hand 
through  which  it  passed;  while  anyone  who  ob- 
jected was  put  down.  He  who  travels  over  the  lines 
of  the  old  highways  and  *'  turnpikes  "  to-day  may 
amuse  himself  by  studying  the  routes  determined 
by  personal  motives.     The  road-makers 

"  pulled  down  their  enemies'  enclosures  and  laid  waies 
through  their  orchards,  gardens  and  improvements;  there 
was  one  gentleman  at  whom  they  had  an  extraordinary 
pique,  and  they  laid  a  way  over  a  mill  pond,  to  necessi- 
tate him  to  pull  down  dam  and  mills  that  could  not  be 
erected  for  1000  pounds,  or  to  pull  it  down  themselves, 


36  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

though  the  gentleman  offered  to  build  a  bridge  over  the 
stream  at  his  own  charge,  J  of  a  mile  distant,  w^*"  would 
have  been  f  nearer  and  better  way." 

Lord  Cornbury's  zeal  to  establish  the  Church  of 
England  stirred  Quakers,  Presbyterians,  and  Con- 
gregationalists  to  make  common  cause  against  any 
act  of  Assembly  designed  to  compel  the  province  to 
support  any  Church  whatever,  and  succeeded. 

As  for  expenses,  it  soon  became  clear  that  the 
proprietors'  demands  had  been  a  mere  trifle  com- 
pared to  those  of  the  royal  government,  while  her 
Majesty  upheld  the  landlord's  claims  for  their  rent 
at  a  penny  the  acre  to  the  uttermost  farthing. 

**  The  whole  province  was  filled  with  murmurs  and 
complaints;  but  neither  that  nor  y^  hearty  curses  they 
liberally  bestow'^  upon  the  vilains  that  were  y^  authors  of 
their  sufferings,  avail'^  anything;  they  were  forced  to  get 
money,  some  by  taking  it  up  at  lo,  20,  30  &  more  p'  Cent 
interest,  those  whose  credit  would  not  go,  even  on  y""  most 
desperate  terms,  were  forced  to  sell  w'  they  had  was 
vendable,  to  raise  the  money  and  very  many  there  was 
y*  sold  good  milch  cows  to  raise  six  shillings." 

The  people  let  their  commerce  dwindle  to  nothing ; 
their  ports  became  pirates'  nests ;  while  land  breezes 
and  church  tempests  sometimes  were  varied  by  a  ne- 
gro plot  or  a  hanging.  But  the  Assembly  at  length 
rebuked  the  Governor  for  his  countless  outrages,  and 
notified  the  Queen  that  the  colonists  could  submit  to 
them  no  longer.  The  well-paid  Council  promptly  for- 
warded their  unqualified  approval  of  his  actions,  and 


A   DUAL   ROYAL   PROVINCE  37 

**  dislike  and  abhorrence  of  the  Burgesses'  proceed- 
incrs."     But   the    whitewash    was    too    thick.      Her 

o 

Gracious  Majesty  Hstened  to  Lewis  Morris,  whom 
the  burgesses  sent  to  present  their  accusations  with 
detailed  proof;  and  New  York's  supplications  being 
added,  the  hated  Cornbury  was  displaced  in  1708  by 
Lord  Lovelace,  who  lived  but  six  months,  and  had 
little  to  do  with  New  Jersey. 

Lieutenant-Governor  Ingoldsby  was  in  charge 
when  anxieties  lest  the  French  and  Indian  War 
should  reach  them  induced  the  Assembly  to  make 
their  first  issue  of  paper-money,  in  1609,  and  equip 
forces  to  help  the  other  colonies.  The  next  year 
this  was  kept  up,  and  other  changes  for  the  better 
were  instituted  by  Governor  Robert  Hunter,  which 
outlasted  his  nine  years'  term.  He  ousted  Corn- 
bury's  ruffians,  giving  their  places  to  such  men  as 
Lewis  Morris,  John  Hamilton,  and  other  sons  of  the 
best  of  the  old  stock.  He  paid  the  people  a  pleas- 
ant compliment  by  building  an  official  residence  on 
a  sightly  spot  in  Perth  Amboy,  whither  he  often 
escaped  for  a  brief  rest  from  the  cares  of  the  larger 
province.  He  also  bought  land  near  Burlington, 
and,  later,  in  New  Brunswick,  where  he  planted  a 
settlement.  While  helping  in  this  manner  and  by 
his  influence  with  the  home  government,  he  faced 
the  Assembly  with  the  causes  of  the  rotten  condi- 
tion of  their  affairs,  and  induced  them  to  carry  on  im- 
provements with  less  spite  and  more  honest  labour 
than  before.  Nothing  was  ever  more  unfortunate 
for  them  than  the  change  in  1720,  which  brought 
William  Burnet  for  eight  years  to  enforce  the  new 


38 


THE  THIRl^ERN   COLONIES 


policy  of  George  I.,  when  scarcity  of  money  and  de- 
pression in  paper  currency  were  adding  to  the  old  ills. 
During  all  this  time  the  proprietors  and  the  men 
holding  title  from  them  had  had  infinite  difficulties. 
Many  efforts  were  made  to  have  William  III.'s  de- 
cision favouring  Nicolls's  grants  set  aside.     To  con- 


WILLIAM    BURNET,    GOVERNOR    FROM    I72O-28. 
Redrawn  from  Whitehead's  History  of  Perth  A}>ihoy. 

test  their  validity  the  "  Inhabitants  and  Freeholders 
of  Elizabeth  Town  "  formed  a  "  permanent  com- 
mittee of  assistance,"  whose  first  act,  apparently,  in 
1720,  was  to  lose,  steal,  or  destroy  the  Elizabeth 
Town  Book,  the  only  complete  record  of  Governor 
Carteret's  agreements  with  the  "  Affter  Cull  Colo- 
nic "  and  other  early  events.      Although  obliged  to 


A    DUAL   ROYAL   PROVINCE  39 

sell  several  thousand  of  their  jealously  prized  acres 
to  meet  the  expenses,  this  committee  henceforth 
stuck  at  nothing  to  resist  rents  and  every  sort  of  pro- 
prietary claim,  at  the  worst  dragging  suits  through 
the  courts  for  years  until  they  dropped  dead  of  their 
own  weight.  Burnet  left  ;  the  mild  three  years' 
term  of  Montgomerie  passed  by;  then  the  brutal 
Cosby's  four  years.  Then  King  George  II.  at  last 
answered  the  request  for  a  separate  governor  with 
New  Jersey's  own  good  and  able  Lewis  Morris. 
But  when  this  long  trusted  associate  tried  to  carry 
out  the  royal  instructions,  the  people  made  his  life 
a  burden,  till  after  eight  years  he  died.  He  who 
had  spent  the  flower  of  his  days  in  devotion  to  their 
welfare  sadly  admitted  that  the  inclination  of  the 
people  to  control  the  government,  common  to  all 
the  provinces,  **  was  nowhere  pursued  with  more 
steadiness  and  less  decency  than  in  New  Jersey." 

Yet  the  instructions  from  England  had  been  '*  to 
keep  matters  smooth  " — not  even  to  press  for  "fit- 
ting support  "  for  the  royal  ofificers.  The  Free 
Borough  and  Town  of  Elizabeth  was  chartered  in 
about  1740,  with  all  the  privileges  of  a  free  English 
corporation  under  mayor,  aldermen,  and  common 
council,  and  the  boundaries  were  settled  after 
seventy  years  of  quarrels. 

The  year  1740  was  the  period  of  the  Great  Revival 
that  possessed  the  province  with  religious  fervour, 
to  the  exclusion  of  hatred  and  malice  while  it  lasted. 
But  before  long  camp-meetings  gave  way  to  secret 
caucuses  over  the  old  title  quarrels,  in  which  the 
Elizabeth  Town  Associates  determined  to  use  their 


40  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

new  powers.  Secret  communications  were  sent 
hither  and  thither  to  inflame  all  settlers  within  the 
grant.  Each  side  posted  agents  to  intercept  the 
messengers,  and  whichever  succeeded,  violence 
usually  followed.      The  old  record  says: 

**  The  infection  of  insubordination  spread  daily;  vio- 
lence was  done;  arrests  made  and  imprisonment;  jails 
broken  and  prisoners  released;  indictments  found  for 
nothing,  and  more  riots  against  the  indictments;  the 
government  too  weak  to  stop  it." 

In  1745,  the  famous  Elizabeth  Town  Bill  was 
filed  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  written  by  Joseph 
Murray  and  James  Alexander,  both  eminent  New 
York  lawyers — so  complete  a  defence  of  the  pro- 
prietors' claims  from  the  beginning,  with  maps  and 
references,  and,  as  a  prejudiced  writer  grudgingly 
admits,  "  so  plausible  .  .  .  that  nearly  all  the 
historians  of  the  State  have  relied  almost  implicitly 
on  its  statements."  The  answer  was  a  mere  denial, 
drawn  up  by  the  "  incendiary  lawyers  "  and  "  Sons 
of  Liberty,"  William  Livingston  and  William  Smith, 
also  of  New  York.  The  suit  dragged  such  a  weary 
length  through  the  courts  that  the  principal  lawyers 
died  before  the  matter  came  to  a  hearing. 

A  pleasant  break  in  the  monotony  was  the  found- 
ing of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  now  Princeton 
University,  in  1746,  to  educate  young  men  for  the 
ministry — insuring  equal  liberties  to  every  Christian 
sect.  Then  came  Jonathan  Belcher  for  the  remain- 
ing nine  years  of  his  life,  a  term  of  '*  fatherly  kind- 
ness  and    masterly    management" — a    reputation 


y^    DUAL   ROYAL   PROVINCE  43 

denied  him  as  Governor  of  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire.  The  New  Jersey  people,  impressed  as 
much  perhaps  by  his  Excellency's  high  temper  as 
by  his  deep  piety,  begged  his  **  favour  and  kind 
protection  "  to  make  "  trade  flourish  amongst  us." 
The  records,  which  only  here  begin  to  be  full,  show 
that  many  improvements  were  set  on  foot,  for  which 
money  was  often  raised  by  lotteries.  In  one  year 
eight  lotteries,  under  the  charge  of  leading  men  of 
the  province,  were  advertised  in  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  papers.  The  Assembly  afterwards 
passed  severe  laws  against  these  and  all  forms  of 
gambling;  but  for  many  years  money  for  public 
benefit  could  be  raised  in  no  other  way,  and  the  law 
was  evaded  by  drawing  the  tickets  in  another  pro- 
vince. 

Only  at  this  time,  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  the  province  was  nearly  a  hundred 
years  old,  did  it  seem  to  be  on  the  way  to  dignity 
and  prosperity.  The  large  towns  still  vied  Avith 
each  other  for  the  honour  of  being  chosen  for  the 
frequently  shifted  capital  and  governor's  residence; 
the  high-minded  leaders  who  had  come  to  the  fore 
in  Hunter's  day  still  had  to  combat  selfishness  in 
perhaps  the  majority  of  the  representatives.  This 
conflict  grew  more  serious  as  George  H.'s  French 
and  Indian  War  neared  the  colony.  The  hard-fisted 
back-country  farmers  were  not  moved  to  decent 
action  by  gratitude  for  the  fact  that  they  had  been 
spared  through  half  a  century  of  these  hostilities; 
and  what  little  they  voted,  when  obliged  to  do 
so,  they  often  hampered  by  conditions  until  it  was 


44  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

almost  useless.  When  his  Majesty's  soldiers  were 
quartered  here,  as  in  New  York,  they  were  billeted 
upon  the  people  of  the  principal  towns,  an  attempt 
at  economy  which  was  "  found  by  Experience  not 
only  attended  with  a  heavy  publick  Expence,  but 
many  other  pernicious  Consequences  to  private 
Families  " — a  statement  putting  many  sad  stories  in 
a  nutshell.  So,  as  a  choice  of  evils,  the  Assembly 
built  substantial  barracks  for  three  hundred  men  at 
Burlington,  Trenton,  New  Brunswick,  Perth  Am- 
boy,  and  Elizabeth  Town.  The  province  was 
not  free  from  these  guests  of  "  pernicious  Conse- 
quences" for  the  next  twenty  years.  Indians  began 
to  harass  the  frontier  after  Braddock's  defeat;  but 
Francis  Bernard  made  his  two  years'  term  memor- 
able by  his  general  council  of  sachems  at  Easton, 
Pennsylvania,  when  he  quieted  the  claims  of  the 
tribes  marauding  on  the  borders  and  turned  their 
hostility  into  good  will  which  saved  the  colonists 
untold  distress.  Bernard  was  a  royal  officer  who, 
forgetting  his  salary  in  solicitude  for  defences,  could 
raise  money,  enlist  regiments,  and  even  assert  the 
royal  prerogative  without  exciting  the  resentment 
of  the  representatives.  There  was  harmony  while 
he  ruled,  and  regret  when  he  left  in  1760,  to  go  to 
Massachusetts.  Thomas  Boone  followed  him  in  a 
brief  change  from  South  Carolina,  and  Josiah  Hardy 
next  crossed  the  scene;  four  governors  passing  in 
the  scant  eight  years  of  the  war,  which  was  beyond 
the  borders  of  the  province,  and  to  which  the  colon- 
ists contributed  no  more  than  their  share. 

In  1763,  the  year  that  peace  was  signed  at  Paris, 


A    DUAL   ROYAL   PROVINCE  45 

began  the  admirable  thirteen  years'  administration 
of  WilHam  Frankh'n,  the  end  of  which  was  the  end 
of  the  province.  Young  Frankh'n's  appointment 
was  one  of  the  most  important  ever  made  in  the 


JONATHAN    DICKINSON, 
First  President  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 

colonies,  not  only  because  he  was  even  then,  at 
thirty  years  of  age,  an  American  of  marked  charac- 
ter and  ability,  honoured  by  a  degree  from  Oxford 
University  and  other  distinctions  in  England  and  in 
his  native  province  of  Pennsylvania,  but  because  the 


46 


THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 


office  sought  him  on  a  wonderful  approach  to  the 
merit  system,  though  he  was  the  grandson  of  a 
Massachusetts  printer  whom  the  Crown  had  pun- 
ished for  patriotism,  and  the  only  living  son  and 
constant  companion  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  who 
that  year  had  left  London  on  account  of  the  passage 
of  the  Stamp  Act.  Young  Franklin  and  his  bride 
had  much  to  overcome  in  the  prejudice  against  his 


,   ^     ior/fj^r  Penny-weight,  [^]  and  iV/^w  Grains  of  PtaTE.-^^"^ 


THIS  Bill  by  Z /f  ^fhall  pafs  cuvrent  in 
ior /fj^r  Penny-weight,  ' 

WSi^  December  ;i,   1763. 


%  Eighteen  Fence.  § 


'^1 


,'^/. 


u 


illegitimate  birth  ;  but  he  soon  drew  into  his  Council 
and  other  offices  as  well  as  into  his  private  friend- 
ship the  best  people  of  the  country.  In  a  short  time 
he  worked  wonders  for  the  benefit  of  all  classes. 
But  with  all  his  devotion  to  the  province  and  his 
patriot  blood,  he  held  to  the  King's  side  on  the 
Stamp  Act  question  and  the  others  in  its  train,  be- 
coming the  leader  of  the  Tory  party  here  and  after- 
wards in  New  York.  Many  of  the  best  families  were 
with  him.  The  colony  never  was  a  high-minded, 
united,  or  self-governing  body,  with  all  its  insub- 
ordination; and  having  little  foreign  commerce  or 


A    DUAL   ROYAL   PROVLNCE  49 

inland  traffic,  the  young  men  of  good  family  went 
into  government  service  here  or  in  the  mother- 
country.  Many  were  educated  and  married  in  Eng- 
land, while  their  sisters  had  found  husbands  in  the 
royal  regiments  stationed  in  the  province.  Mr. 
Whitehead  says:  ''  Probably  not  one  of  the  colonies 
in  proportion  to  its  population  and  extent  suffered 
more"  than  New  Jersey  from  the  separation  of 
families  and  friends  in  the  drawing  of"  patriot" 
and  '*  Tory  "  lines. 

The  patriots  were  strong  enough  in  the  Assembly 
to  send  delegates  to  the  Stamp  Act  Congress,  and 
showed  as  marked  resistance  as  any  province,  while 
mobs  burned  effigies,  erected  gallows,  and  threat- 
ened anyone  who  should  attempt  to  use  stamps. 

The  non-importation  agreements  were  signed,  and 
renewed  when  it  was  said  that  some  of  the  New 
York  merchants  were  weakening;  and  later,  sym- 
pathy and  aid  were  sent  to  Boston  when  the  port 
was  closed.  Organised  resistance  was  begun  by 
a  convention  of  delegates  in  the  court-house  at 
Newark  in  June,  1774;  but  as  most  of  the  commit- 
tee appointed  to  carry  out  the  measures  resolved 
upon  were  Elizabeth  Town  men,  the  old  capital  be- 
came the  headquarters  of  the  patriot  movement  in 
New  Jersey,  while  the  Tories  centred  about  the 
Governor  at  Perth  Amboy.  A  standing  Committee 
of  Correspondence  was  appointed  and  several  county 
committees,  while  delegates  were  sent  to  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  but  instructed  to  oppose  any  plan 
for  independence.  The  blood  shed  at  Lexington, 
however,  put  matters  in  another  li^ht. 

VOL.  II.— 4. 


50  THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

While  Governor  Franklin  ably  took  the  King's 
side  in  a  course  of  actions  which  never  were  tainted 
with  personal  interest  or  double-dealing,  his  father 
visited  him  to  plead  the  country's  cause  and  his 
own  affectionate  wishes;  but  only  to  leave  broken- 
hearted. 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  upright  than  the 
assurances  which  passed  between  the  Governor  and 
the  people.  The  Convention,  asking  and  receiving 
his  parole,  agreed  to  his  living  as  the  Governor  in 
his  house  at  Amboy,  among  all  the  excitement  and 
increasing  difficulties,  until  the  spring  of  1775,  when, 
in  obedience  to  orders  from  England,  he  called  for 
an  Assembly.  As  that  was  contrary  to  the  decree 
of  the  Continental  Congress,  the  Convention  was 
obliged  to  arrest  him,  declaring  him  no  longer  the 
Governor,  but  "  an  enemy  to  the  country,"  and 
sending  him  under  guard  to  Connecticut. 

The  delegates  to  the  Second  Congress  were  in- 
structed 

"  in  case  they  think  it  necessary  and  expedient  for  sup- 
porting the  just  rights  of  America  to  join  in  declaring  the 
United  Colonies  independent  and  entering  into  a  Con- 
federation for  union  and  defense." 

They  voted  accordingly,  and  signed  the  Declar- 
ation. Two  days  earlier,  July  2,  1776,  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  State  of  New  Jersey  was  adopted. 


CHAPTER    III 

DELAWARE,    SIXTH   COLONY— THE   SMALL  DOMAIN 
COVETED    BY   THREE   NATIONS 

THE    FIRST    DUTCH    FOOTHOLD 

VENTURESOME  subjects  of  the  States-General 
were  the  first  to  make  a  settlement  on  the  west 
shore  of  what  they  called  the  South  Bay,  thus  giv- 
ing the  resulting  colony  some  title  to  the  sixth 
place.  At  least  it  naturally  comes  next  to  the 
others  planted  by  them,  for,  although  the  Swedes 
obtained  possession  of  it  for  about  sixteen  years, 
the  Dutch  held  sway  for  half  a  century  over  this 
most  coveted  piece  of  coast  — which,  after  almost 
another  century  of  disputed  EngHsh  control,  became 
the  royal  province  of  Delaware. 

Hudson  called  the  attention  of  the  Amsterdam 
merchants  to  this  bay  after  his  voyage  of  1609;  and 
probably  some  of  the  first  who  followed  up  his  dis- 
coveries named  Cape  Henlopen.  Englishmen  have 
asserted  that  these  waters  were  discovered  in  1610 
by  Lord  de  la  Warre.  Others,  however,  deny  that 
this  godfather  of  the  First  Colony  ever  saw  them, 
and  say  that  they  were  named  in  his  honour  be- 

51 


52  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

cause,  eight  years  later,  he  died  in  this  region  while 
on  his  second  voyage  to  Virginia.  The  story  of 
New  Jersey  tells  the  New  Netherlanders'  tradition 
of  the  scouts  who  ventured  in  1614  to  the  place 
where  the  river  broadens  out  into  the  bay,  and  of 
the  thorough  exploration  of  both  made  by  Hendrick- 
sen,  sent  from  Manhattan  to  redeem  them  from  the 
Indians.  Some  of  the  Dutchmen's  early  names  for 
the  bay  were  Arasalpha,  Nassau,  Prince  Hendrick, 
Charles,  New  Port  Mey,  and  Godyn  —  the  last  of 
them  given  at  the  time  of  the  purchase  of  the  first 
land  on  the  western  shore,  made  in  1629;  and  that 
was  six  years  after  Captain  Mey  built  Fort  Nassau, 
on  what  is  now  the  New  Jersey  shore  of  the  river 
at  the  head  of  the  bay.  For  the  first  of  the  famous 
New  Netherland  patrooneries,  the  agents  of  Samuel 
Godyn  and  Samuel  Blommaert,  two  of  the  Dutch 
West  India  Company's  directors,  bought  over  thirty 
miles  above  Cape  Henlopen,  erecting  it  and  prob- 
ably a  later  purchase  on  the  opposite  shore  into  the 
patroonery  of  Zwanendael,  the  Valley  of  Swans. 
Among  the  directors  with  whom  these  greedy  specu- 
lators were  obliged  to  share  this  choice  land  was  the 
celebrated  traveller  and  coloniser.  Captain  de  Vries. 
In  his  service,  Peter  Heyes  brought  out  an  exceed- 
ingly well-equipped  colony  of  thirty-four  persons 
during  the  spring  of  1630,  and  settled  them  under 
command  of  Gillis  Hossett,  in  and  about  a  fort, 
which  was  called  Oplandt.  This  was  near  what  is 
now  the  town  of  Lewes.  It  was  placed  just  within 
Cape  Henlopen  to  be  convenient  for  whale  fisheries, 
and   not    far    from    what    was    supposed    to    be  a 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH  COLONY  53 

comfortable  harbour  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hoornkill, 
a  stream  probably  named  from  Hoorn  in  North  Hol- 
land, where  De  Vries  lived,  though  other  spellings 
and  reasons  have  been  given.  With  cattle,  tools, 
grain  and  seeds  for  farming,  an  outfit  for  whaling, 
a  yacht  and  supplies  for  the  Indians'  peltry  trade, 
this  colony  started  under  remarkably  good  auspices. 
But  Fort  Oplandt  was  a  rude  shelter  defended  by 
a  log  palisade,  probably  intended  only  for  use  until 
a  better  one  could  be  built,  for  the  Dutch  usually 
raised  parapets  and  breastworks,  employing  skilled 
engineers.  The  next  year,  when  De  Vries  arrived 
with  more  colonists  and  materials  for  many  improve- 
ments, Oplandt  was  a  blackened  ruin,  strewn  with 
the  bleaching  bones  of  the  people  to  whom  he  had 
brought  companions  and  supplies.  The  Indians 
told  him  how  Peter  Heyes  had  nailed  up  a  pretty 
piece  of  tin  on  a  tree,  which  De  Vries  knew  must 
have  been  the  national  escutcheon;  and  then  they 
told  him  with  much  detail  that  their  chief  thought 
it  a  choice  bit  of  material  for  pipes;  and  having  had 
many  pretty  presents  of  tin  cups  and  platters  from 
the  "  Sanhikans,"  as  these  people  called  the  Dutch- 
men, he  helped  himself  to  this  and  made  it  into 
most  beautiful  pipes.  Gillis  Hossett  was  so  hot 
with  indignation  over  this  desecration  of  the  arms 
of  his  country,  the  Indians  told  De  Vries,  that  sev- 
eral leading  men  of  the  tribe  put  their  offending 
chief  to  death  and  carried  the  news  to  the  fort  that 
the  white  man  might  forget  his  anger  against 
them.  Poor  Hossett  then  let  his  feelings  run  too 
far  the  other  way,   showing  that  he  considered  the 


54  THE  THIRTEEN   Ci)LONIES 

punishment  beyond  the  crime.  The  savages,  seeing 
that  their  sacrifice  was  not  acceptable,  went  away  in 
bitterness  and  planned  another  visit  to  be  made  with 
a  show  of  friendship,  until  a  signal  was  given  to  fall 
upon  the  whole  colony.  The  scheme  had  not  failed. 
De  Vries  could  see  the  ruins  for  himself.  He  must 
have  blamed  Hossett,  for  he  said  afterwards,  "  We 
lost  our  settlement  in  the  Hoorn  Creek  by  mere 
jangling  with  the  Indians."  But  it  seems  that  the 
whale  fisheries  established  there  were  not  abandoned  ; 
and  this  may  be  considered  as  the  first  white  men's 
foothold  in  what  is  now  Delaware. 

The  next  claim  on  this  attractive  land  was  asserted 
by  Charles  I.  of  England,  in  the  grant  of  Maryland 
which  he  made  to  Lord  Baltimore  in  the  spring  of 
1632,  and  which  did  nothing  more  than  send  a  thrill 
of  protest  through  the  colonies  of  other  nations, 
keeping  alive  England's  pretensions  in  virtue  of 
Cabot's  discoveries. 

NEW    SWEDELAND 

While  English  and  Dutch  contended  for  this  terri- 
tory, the  Swedes  took  possession  and  held  supremacy 
for  sixteen  years.  Even  before  1630,  the  Swedes 
have  declared,  certain  men  of  authority  in  Holland 
agreed  to  Gustavus  Adolphus's  colonisation  of  this 
western  shore.  This  has  been  denied,  but  not  dis- 
proved. The  Lion  of  the  North  and  champion  of 
oppressed  Protestants  was  then  at  the  height  of  his 
power.  The  great  Antwerp  merchant,  William 
Usselincx,  who  had  founded  the  Dutch  West  India 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH   COLONY  55 

Company,  had  presented  himself  in  Sweden,  after 
his  quarrel  with  them,  and  either  inspired  or  aided 
the  King  in  forming  a  Swedish  company  for  trade 
and  colonisation  on  this  rich  South  Bay.  The 
enterprise  was  well  under  way  when  it  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  German  war,  in  the  midst  of  which, 
at  Nuremberg,  Gustavus  had  invited  the  people  of 
Germany  to  partake  of  the  benefits  of  this  "  jewel 
of  his  kingdom,"  a  colony  to  which  all  E.urope 
should  be  invited  to  contribute,  a  refuge  for  "  all 
oppressed  Christendom."  It  was  not  to  be  a  slave 
market.  **  Slaves  cost  a  great  deal,  labour  with  re- 
luctance, and  soon  perish  from  hard  usage;  the 
Swedish  nation  is  laborious  and  intelligent,  and 
surely  we  shall  gain  more  by  a  free  people  with 
wives  and  children." 

Gustavus  fell  in  the  battle  of  Liitzen,  a  few  weeks 
later,  in  November,  1632,  when,  as  Bancroft  says, 
"  humanity  won  one  of  its  most  glorious  victories 
and  lost  one  of  its  ablest  defenders."  But  during 
the  minority  of  his  six-year-old  daughter  Christina, 
the  King's  projects  were  in  the  able  hands  of  Axel, 
Count  of  Oxenstjerna,  his  own  tried  minister,  *'  one 
of  the  greatest  men  of  all  time,  the  serene  chancel- 
lor." As  '*  executor  of  the  wish  of  Gustavus,"  he 
confirmed  a  patent  of  the  "  New  South  Company," 
united  with  the  "  Ship  Company,"  and  renewed  the 
invitation  to  Germany,  prophesying  truly,  "the  con- 
sequences will  be  favourable  to  all  Christendom,  to 
Europe,  to  the  whole  world."  Peter  Minuit,  the 
admirable  first  Director  of  New  Netherland,  who 
had  been  recalled,  apparently  on  false  charges,   in 


$6  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

the  year  of  Gustavus  Adolphus's  death,  turned 
from  Holland  to  Sweden,  as  Usselincx  had  done 
before  him.  Oxenstjerna,  looking  for  a  man  to 
lead  out  the  first  body  of  colonists,  gladly  availed 
himself  of  the  abilities  which  certain  of  the  Dutch 
patroons  had  dreaded  in  opposition  to  their  own 
interests.  Important  matters  were  before  long 
under  his  direction  and  that  of  Samuel  Blommaert, 
Swedish  commissary  (or  consul-general)  at  Amster- 
dam, and  one  of  the  original  patroons  who  had 
never  made  good  his  holdings.  They  helped  to 
form  a  Swedish-Dutch  company  to  trade  and 
colonise  in  portions  of  the  North  American  coast 
not  previously  occupied  by  the  Dutch  or  English. 
When  all  the  arrangements  were  completed,  Minuit 
took  command  of  an  emigration  of  "mixed  people." 
He  held  his  trust  for  the  initial  years  of  the  first 
colony  in  New  Sweden,  until  death  removed  him. 
He  w^as  not  a  "renegade  Dutchman,"  as  he  is  called 
by  historians  who  ought  to  know  better,  but  a  Ger- 
man born  in  Wesel,  who  accepted  employment  by 
the  Swedes  after  the  Dutch  Company  had  discharged 
him.  He  knew  that  the  Dutch  claims  in  North 
America  were  not  admitted  by  England,  and  that 
every  nation's  foothold  was  contested  by  others. 
No  heroic  character  of  his  age  would  have  held 
back  simply  because  Sweden  had  no  shadow  of  title 
in  the  South  Bay.  Additional  incentives  were 
found  in  the  greatness  of  the  Swedish  name  in 
arms,  in  the  weakness  of  the  Dutch  Company's 
Director  and  garrisons,  and  more  than  all,  perhaps, 
in  the  fact  of  its  being  bound  by  charter  to  wait  for 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH  COLONY  57 

permission  from  the  States-General  before  firing-  on 

o 

the  subjects  of  any  nation  with  which  they  were  not 
at  war.  So  he  sailed  with  well-grounded  confidence 
in  the  winter  of  1637,  with  the  gunboat  Kalmar 
Nyckel  {Key  of  Kalmar)  and  the  sloop  Gripen 
{Griffin),  carrying  a  well-fitted  company  of  about 
fifty  industrious  men  and  women.  They  had  a  de- 
voted Lutheran  clergyman,  Riorus  Torkillus,  to 
look  after  their  souls,  and  a  skilful  engineer  to  pro- 
vide for  their  temporal  security.  He  took  them  far 
up  the  bay,  and  into  the  stream  which  the  Dutch 
called  Minquas'  Kill  from  the  tribe  of  natives  upon 
it,  while  the  Swedes  renamed  it  the  Elbe,  and  later 
the  Christina  (long  afterwards  corrupted  into  Chris- 
tiana), in  honour  of  their  girl-queen. 

About  two  miles  up  this  serpentine  stream,  on  the 
west  bank,  they  found  a  great  bluff,  with  a  natural 
wharf  of  stone,  almost  cut  off  from  the  surrounding 
country  by  a  marsh.  It  was  called  Hopahaccan  by 
the  Indians.  The  Dutchmen  at  Fort  Nassau  at  once 
protested  against  their  landing,  and  Minuit  gained 
time  by  pretending  to  be  on  his  way  to  the  West 
Indies  and  stopping  only  for  wood  and  water— which 
he  had  already  laid  in,  telling  the  same  story,  at 
Jamestown,  Virginia.  When  he  was  cornered  into 
admitting  that  he  had  come  to  plant  a  Swedish 
colony,  his  cannon  had  been  landed,  scientific  stone 
fortifications  begun,  and  other  foundations  laid  for 
Fort  Christina  and  behind  it  for  the  farming  village 
of  Christinaham. 

Unfortunately,  New  Swedeland  had  no  chronicler 
of  its  own  at  first,  although  after  some  years  histories 


58 


THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 


and  descriptions  were  written  by  Israel  Acrelius, 
provost  of  the  colony,  settled  over  the  church  at 
Christina;  by  Peter  Lindstroem,  a  military  engineer 
who  wrote  valuable  letters  besides  a  journal  illus- 


PLAN    OF   FORT    CHRISTIXA,    1655. 


trated  with  diagrams  ;  and  by  Thomas  Campanius 
Holm,  whose  SJiort  Description  is  a  fascinating  book, 
full  of  all  sorts  of  statements  ranging  from  facts  of 
public  record  to  the  wildest  of  fancies.  A  much 
later  English  historian  of  the  Delaware  says: 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH  COLONY  59 

"  A  more  favourable  spot  can  hardly  be  imagined. 
High  and  dry,  safe  and  commodious  as  a  place  of  de- 
posit, no  delay  and  little  labour  was  necessary  to  land 
their  stores.  Immediately  to  that  little  area,  about  one 
hundred  yards  square,  near  the  point  of  rocks,  came  the 
native  Minquas,  paddling  their  canoes  down  the  Creek, 
or  overland,  single  file,  with  their  packs  of  beaver  and 
otter  and  deer-skins  and  their  tobacco  and  maize  and 
venison;  all  of  which  they  gladly  exchanged  for  the 
cloths,  the  blankets,  tools,  and  trinkets  of  European 
production." 

The  colonists  held  their  public  worship  in  the 
fort  and  were  led  for  about  four  years  by  the  good 
Torkillus,  who,  besides  labouring  for  his  country- 
men, also  served  his  flock  by  his  kindness  to  the 
natives. 

"  The  Indians  sometimes  attended  the  religious  as- 
semblies of  the  Swedes,  but  expressed  their  amazement 
that  one  man  should  detain  his  tribe  with  such  lengthened 
harangues  without  offering  to  entertain  them  with  brandy. 
.  On  .  .  .  one  occasion  the  young  and  vio- 
lent were  roused  with  anger  against  the  new  people  " 
because  "  the  pastor  spoke  so  long  alone  that  the  redmen 
decided  that  he  was  exhorting  his  audience  to  hostility 
against  themselves." 

Minuit  made  treaties  with  practically  the  whole 
race  on  bay  and  river.  He  knew  probably  that  the 
Dutch  West  India  Company  had  lately  bought 
Zwanendael  from  the  patroons  for  the  handsome 
price  of  15,600  guilders,  over  $6200  when  money 
was  worth  at  least  five  times  what  it  is  now.     Yet 


6o  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

for  a  kettle  and  similar  valuables  he  induced  the 
natives  to  sell  to  the  Swedes  a  tract  which  Mr. 
Fisher  says  careful  investigation  shows  to  have  been 
only  between  Bombay  Hook  and  the  Schuylkill, 
though  early  writers  said  it  was  the  entire  shore 
with  "  as  much  inwards  as  they  might  want." 

Minuit  soon  received  a  wordy  remonstrance  from 
Director  Kieft  of  New  Netherland,  who  protested 
that  the  South  Bay  and  River  had  been  long  occu- 
pied by  the  Dutch  forts  and  "  sealed  by  our  blood 
.  .  .  during  thy  Directorship  of  the  New  Nether- 
land and  is  therefore  well  known  to  thee."  He  ap- 
pealed to  his  superiors  in  Holland,  who  gave  him  no 
authority  to  interfere,  although  Minuit's  peltry  trade 
amounted  to  '*  thirty  thousand  florins  injury  "  to 
the  Dutch.  It  is  said  that  the  Dutch  "  sought  to 
keep  them  from  going  any  farther  by  buying  up  the 
country  of  the  Indians  as  well  as  keeping  on  good 
terms  with  them.  This  was  the  Swedes'  policy 
also."  But  it  is  not  exactly  true  that  "  the  result 
was  the  remarkable  fact  that  during  the  Swedish 
dynasty  not  a  drop  of  Indian  blood  was  shed  on  the 
Delaware  by  either  party." 

In  the  brief  mild  winter  of  1639-40,  the  people 
grew  so  disappointed  because  provisions  and  more 
colonists  did  not  arrive  from  home  that  many  began 
to  think  of  going  to  the  Dutch  colony  on  the  North 
River  if  they  could  not  return  to  the  dear  and 
distant  native  land.  But  the  early  spring  dispelled 
their  gloom;  and  they  assured  the  newcomers,  who 
arrived  from  Sweden  and  Finland,  that  they  had 
come  to  an  earthly  Paradise. 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH   COLONY  6 1 

Mr.  Keen  ^  says: 

**  A  second  expedition  had  already  been  projected 
which  Queen  Christina  and  the  Swedish  partners  in  the 
South  Company  determined  to  render  more  national  in 
character  than  that  conducted  by  Minuit.  Natives  of 
Sweden  were  particularly  invited  to  engage  in  it;  and 
none  volunteering  to  do  so,  the  governors  of  Elfsborg 
and  Varmland  were  directed  to  procure  married  soldiers 
who  had  evaded  service  or  committed  some  other  capital 
offense  [there  were  many  in  those  days],  who  with  their 
wives  and  children  were  promised  the  liberty  of  return- 
ing home  at  pleasure  at  the  end  of  one  or  two  years." 
With  them  sailed  "  the  second  governor  of  New  Sweden, 
Lieutenant  Peter  Hollender  .  .  .  who  was  probably, 
as  his  name  indicates,  a  Dutchman,  and  (since  he  signed 
himself  *  Ridder  ')  doubtless  a  nobleman." 

They  arrived  in  April,  1640.  In  that  year,  as  the 
public  records  of  Stockholm  show,  passports  were 
given  by  the  Swedish  government  to  certain  sea- 
captains  for  three  separate  voyages  on  which  they 
took  colonists,  cattle,  and  other  things  necessary  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  country.  It  is  also  shown 
that  several  men  of  substance  received  charters  or 
grants  to  plant  settlements,  and  that  command  of 
the  plantations  was  given  to  military  men.  While 
several  parties  came  during  that  autumn  and  winter, 
more  than  a  hundred  people  ready  to  sail  were  left 
behind  waiting  for  ships  to  carry  them.  Over  one 
of  the  most  important  grants  of  this  time  the  min- 
isters of  the  little  Christina —  if  they  had  any  sense 

*  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America.     Edited  by  Winsor. 


62  THE  THIRrEEN   COLONIES 

of  humour  —  must  have  chuckled  among  them- 
selves at  the  expense  of  Van  Twiller  if  not  of  his 
superiors,  for  it  was  a  sovereign  concession  to  a 
certain  company  of  Dutchmen,  giving  them  leave 
in  consideration  of  "  three  florins  of  the  empire  for 
each  person  "  to  settle  their  colony  under  an  officer 
paid  by  Sweden,  Joost  de  Bogaerdt,  some  fifteen 
miles  or  so  south  of  Fort  Christina.  The  Dutch 
colony  promptly  took  possession,  building  homes, 
planting  fields,  and  enjoying  this  happy  land  much 
as  the  Swedes  did,  while  their  countr3'men  at  Man- 
hattan were  sufTering  under  Kieft's  wretched  gov- 
ernment and  the  Indian  wars  which  he  provoked. 

The  Swedes  were  crippled  in  that  summer  of  1641 
by  the  loss  of  Minuit,  who  died  in  Fort  Christina, 
much  regretted.  All  that  can  be  gleaned  concern- 
ing him  seems  to  show  that  this  first  Governor  of 
the  two  "  foreign  "  plantations  of  the  Thirteen 
Colonies  was  an  able  and  judicious  man,  always  well 
spoken  of  except  by  interested  persons  who  had 
failed  to  buy  off  his  shrewd  devotion  to  his  em- 
ployers. His  body  was  laid  in  the  churchyard  at 
Christina. 

Lieutenant  Peter  Hollaendaer,  who  took  Minuit's 
place  for  a  year  and  a  half,  united  his  force  with 
that  of  the  Dutch  at  Nassau  under  Commissary  Jan 
Jansen  and  broke  up  two  Newhaven  settlements  at 
points  now  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  He 
and  his  successors  repeatedly  drove  the  Englishmen 
out  of  river  and  bay  with  such  determination  that 
they  did  not  effect  a  settlement  until  after  about 
fifteen  years,  when  the  ghost  of  the  great  Gustavus 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH  COLONY  6^ 

had  ceased  to  clank  in  warlike  armour  throughout 
the  civilised  world,  protecting  his  colony  and  their 
valuable  peltry  trade. 

Meantime,  in  Sweden,  says  Mr.  Keen, 

"  the  Governor  of  Gottenburg  was  enjoined  to  persuade 
families  of  his  province  to  emigrate  '  with  their  horses 
and  cattle  and  other  personal  property  ' ;  and  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Varmland  and  Dal  was  directed  to  enlist  certain 
Finns  who  had  been  forced  to  enter  the  army  as  a  pun- 
ishment for  violating  a  royal  edict  against  clearing  land 
in  that  province  by  burning  forests;  and  the  Governor 
of  Orebro  was  instructed  to  induce  people  of  the  same 
race  roaming  about  the  mining  districts  under  his  juris- 
diction to  accompany  the  rest  to  the  Transatlantic 
Colony.  At  about  the  same  time,  the  Government  re- 
solved to  buy  out  the  Dutch  partners  in  tlieir  enterprise, 
which  apparently  was  done  for  18,000  gulden  from  the 
public  funds  of  Sweden.  Thus  their  third  expedition 
was  under  the  auspices  of  a  purely  Swedish  company. 
The  interest  in  the  little  American  company  was  now  at 
its  height,  and  resulted  in  the  formation  of  a  new  com- 
pany, styled  the  West  India,  i\merican,  or  New  Sweden 
Company,  although  oftener  known  as  the  South  Com- 
pany. It  Lad  a  capital  of  36,000  riksdaler,  besides  a 
monopoly  of  the  tobacco  trade  in  Sweden,  Finland,  and 
Ingermanland." 

Hollaendaer  returned  to  Sweden,  and  became 
commander  of  the  Arsenal  at  Stockholm,  while  even 
a  more  vigorous  soldier  took  his  place  in  America. 
For  about  eight  years  following  the  spring  of  1643, 
New  Swedeland  was  under  Governor  John  Printz. 


64  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

He  was  noted  in  the  diary  of  the  humour-loving 
Dutch  Captain  de  Vries  as  a  man  "  of  brave  size," 
weighing  somewhat  more  than  four  hundred  pounds, 
who,  De  Vries  **  doubted  not,"  took  three  drinks  at 
every  meal.  The  custom  in  New  Swedeland  re- 
quired four  meals  a  day.  As  a  distinguished  army 
officer,  who  had  been  ennobled,  a  man  of  recognised 
education  and  ability,  he  was  sent  out  in  state  with 
two  men-of-war  and  a  merchantman,  with  many 
new  settlers  and  lengthy  instructions  to  promote 
and  increase  the  colony  and  govern  it  according  to 
**  the  laws,  customs,  and  usages  of  Sweden,"  in- 
flicting punishments  only  under  "  ordinances  and 
legal  forms  "  or  advice  from  the  "  most  prudent 
assessors  of  justice  "  among  the  inhabitants.  He 
was  also  to  see  that  the  colony  should  "  render  to 
Almighty  God  the  true  worship  which  is  His  due, 
according  to  the  Confession  of  Augsburg,  the 
Council  of  Upsal,  and  the  ceremonies  of  the  Swed- 
ish Church,"  maintaining  "  a  good  ecclesiastical 
discipline,"  and  looking  after  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  the  young  and  of  the  Indians.  The  natives 
he  must  treat  with  "  great  kindness  and  humanity," 
buying  their  land,  making  treaties,  allowing  no  vio- 
lence or  injustice  toward  them.  He  was  to  secure 
all  their  trade  to  agents  of  the  Swedish  Company, 
underbidding  the  Dutch.  Among  the  colonists, 
Printz  was  to  foster  all  the  industries  known  to 
America  and  introduce  as  many  from  Europe  as 
possible,  and  to  give  particular  attention  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  tobacco;  for  this  industry  some  convicts 
were  imported,  and  successful  crops  were  raised  at 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH   COLONY  65 

once,  and  cargoes  sent  home.  He  was  also  to  find 
out  if  silk  and  wine  could  be  produced,  to  try  to 
make  salt  from  sea  water,  explore  the  mineralogy 
of  the  country,  and  to  ship  oak  as  ballast  in  return- 
ing vessels,  together  with  some  walnuts  from  which 
it  was  hoped  to  produce  valuable  oil.  But  whatever 
else  he  did  or  did  not  do,  the  new  Governor  was  to 
maintain  the  sovereignty  of  his  august  Queen.  The 
religion  and  the  charter  privileges  of  the  Dutch 
colony  settled  below  Christina  Creek  were  to  be 
scrupulously  respected;  but  other  Dutch  as  well  as 
English  were  not  to  be  allowed  to  exercise  "  their 
pretended  rights"  on  the  waters  or  land  of  New 
Swedeland.  The  Swedish  government  annually 
devoted  the  large  sum  of  about  two  million  rix- 
dollars  to  the  support  and  development  of  the 
colony.  They  sent  more  colonists  and  more  soldiers, 
so  that  the  stalwart  Printz  was  able  to  guard  this 
national  investment  with  a  military  force  that  far 
outnumbered  all  the  Dutch  in  the  region.  In  less 
than  eight  months  after  his  arrival  he  built  two 
massive  log  forts,  both  of  them  at  points  from 
which  the  English  had  been  driven  by  Hollaendaer 
and  the  Dutch.  One  —  Nya  Elfsborg  —  was  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Bay,  at  Varcken's  Kill  or  Salem 
Creek,  in  what  is  now  New  Jersey.  For  his  other 
fort,  at  his  own  residence  of  Printzhof,  the  shrewd 
soldier  seized  the  most  valuable  site  on  bay  or  river, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill,  where  it  defied  the 
Dutch  Fort  Beversrede.  The  second  Swedish  plan- 
tation within  what  is  now  Pennsylvania  was  named 
Nya  Goteborg,  after  the  old  town  with  its  impreg- 

VOL.  II.— 5. 


(i6  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

nable  fortress  reared  by  the  great  Gustavus.  Mean- 
time the  town  of  Christina  was  kept  up,  the  defences 
increased,  and  "  a  magazine  of  all  sorts  of  goods  " 
provided  —  for  it  was  still  "  the  principal  place  of 
trade,  in  which  the  commissary  holds  his  residence." 
Mr.  Gay  ^  tells  us  that 

"  among  all  the  early  colonial  governors  none  held  more 
undisputed  sway  than  was  exercised  by  Printz  . 
from  the  muddy  banks  at  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill  to 
the  low  capes  of  Henlopen  and  May,  where  the  vexed  and 
shifting  sands  contend  in  endless  strife  with  the  winds  and 
waves  of  the  Atlantic.  It  was  all  New  Sweden  for  a 
hundred  miles  on  both  banks  of  the  noble  river  —  a  rich 
and  lovely  country,  its  broad  round  hills  covered  with 
forests  of  great  trees,  the  growth  of  many  centuries, 
sweeping  down  vvdth  gentle  undulations  to  the  meadows 
through  which  the  quiet  streams  of  many  creeks  wound 
gracefully  in  tortuous  channels  on  their  way  to  the  wide 
waters  of  the  Bay." 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  Printz's  forts 
compelled  every  passing  vessel  of  another  nation 
not  only  to  pay  her  respects  to  Sweden  by  striking 
her  flag,  but  also  a  more  substantial  tribute  if  she 
wanted  to  trade  within  the  Bay.  Thrilling  tales 
were  told  of  his  guardianship  of  the  trading  centre 
now  occupied  by  Philadelphia.  Yet,  as  Mr.  Fisher  f 
says: 

"  It  is  matter  of  some  surprise  how  these  little  wooden 
forts  or  block-houses  were  able  to  control  the  navigation 

*  History  of  the  United  States. 
\  The  Alaking  of  Pennsylvania. 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH  COLONY  6/ 

of  the  river.  The  waters  were  wide  both  in  river  and 
bay,  and  the  forts  were  usually  at  the  widest  places, 
and  in  some  instances  with  the  main  channel  on  the 
opposite  side.  Any  one  naturally  concludes  that  a 
ship  which  kept  close  to  the  further  shore  and  paid  no 
attention  to  the  fort  would  have  been  perfectly  safe. 
But  the  cannon  that  were  used  may  have  been  of  better 
range  and  accuracy  than  has  been  generally  supposed, 
or  the  moral  effect  of  a  shot  or  two  and  the  conscious- 
ness that  pursuit  in  open  boats  was  possible  may  have 
been  enough  to  bring  a  prudent  captain  to  anchor." 

Mr.  Keen  describes  the  manner  of  his  driving  out 
George  Lamberton  and  other  New  England  traders, 
and  then  says: 

"  Not  less  successful  was  the  opposition  of  the  Gov- 
ernor to  an  attempt  to  invade  his  territory  by  the  Eng- 
lish knight,  Sir  Edmund  Plowden,  who  had  recently 
come  to  America  to  take  possession,  in  virtue  of  a  grant 
from  Charles  I.  of  England,  of  a  large  tract  of  land,  in 
which  New  Sweden  was  included.  For  though  certain 
of  the  retainers  of  this  so-styled  '  Earl  Palatine  of  New 
Albion,'  who  had  mutinied  and  left  their  lord  to  perish 
on  an  island,  were  apprehended  at  Fort  Elfsborg  in 
May,  1643,  and  courteously  surrendered  to  him  by 
Printz,  the  latter  refused  to  permit  any  vessel  trading 
under  his  commission  to  pass  up  the  Delaware,  and  so 
'  affronted  '  Plowden  that  he  finally  abandoned  the  river." 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  said  that,  by  kindness 
and  similar  virtues  as  much  as  by  their  enterprise, 
the  Swedes  completely  monopolised  the  native 
trade.     They  set  up  stations  far  into  the  Minquas' 


68  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

country,   collecting  furs  at  lower  prices  than  were 
asked   by   the   natives   after   they   had   transported 
their  "  pelts"    to  the  South  River.     The  Indians 
called  the  Swedes  their  own  people. 
Still,  says  Mr.  Keen, 

"  in  the  spring  of  1644,  influenced,  it  is  presumed,  by 
the  example  of  their  brethren  in  Virginia  and  Maryland 
and  the  vicinity  of  Manhattan,  who  had  recently  been 
provoked  to  fierce  hostility  against  the  Dutch  and  Eng- 
lish, some  of  the  savages  massacred  two  soldiers  and  a 
labourer  between  Christina  and  Elfsborg,  and  a  Swedish 
woman  and  her  husband  between  Tinicum  and  Upland. 
Printz,  however,  immediately  assembling  his  people  at 
Christina  to  defend  themselves  against  all  further  out- 
rages, the  natives  'came  together,'  he  says,  'from  all 
sides,  heartily  apologising  for  and  denying  all  complicity 
in  the  murderous  deeds,  and  suing  earnestly  for  peace.' 
This  was  accorded  them  by  the  Governor,  but  *  with  the 
menace  of  annihilation  if  the  settlers  were  ever  again 
molested.'  Whereupon  a  treaty  was  signed  by  the 
sachems,  and  ratified  by  the  customary  interchange  of 
presents,  assuring  tranquillity  for  the  future  and  restoring 
something  of  the  previous  mutual  confidence." 

Notwithstanding  all  misfortunes,  the  colony  pros- 
pered. An  excellent  class  of  settlers  and  soldiers, 
including  many  newcomers,  controlled  it  as  freemen 
—  free  to  leave  if  they  wished  to.  Good  farmers 
and  workmen  were  made  out  of  the  small  number 
of  convicts  who  had  come  as  workmen  after  the  first 
settlement  was  made.  Their  productive  farms 
adorned  the  banks  of  the  river.  Their  sturdy  cattle 
grazed  on  the  meadows  and  multiplied  in  the  forests. 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH  COLONY  69 

"  The  woodland  at  that  time  grew  a  short  nutritious 
grass;  our  troublesome  underbrush  did  not  begin  until 
the  Englishman's  axe  and  firebrands  destroyed  the 
primeval  woodland  and  its  pasturage.  The  Swedes 
'  took  the  country  as  they  found  it,'  diked  the  open  land 
along  the  river,  cut  the  grass,  ploughed,  and  sowed, 
planted  peaches  and  fruit  trees  of  all  kinds,  had  flourish- 
ing gardens;  '  but  they  were  never  numerous  enough  to 
need  more  land  and  never  attempted  to  clear  away  the 
forests.'  They  seem  to  have  been  '  surrounded  by  an 
abundance  of  game  and  fish  and  the  products  of  thrifty 
agriculture,  of  which  we  can  now  scarcely  conceive 
.  .  .  meadows  '  were  '  covered  with  huge  flocks  of 
white  cranes  which  rose  in  clouds  when  a  boat  approached 
the  shore.  The  finest  varieties  of  fish  could  be  almost 
taken  with  the  hand.  Ducks  and  wild  geese  covered 
the  water,  and  outrageous  stories  were  told  of  the  num- 
ber that  could  be  killed  at  a  single  shot.  The  wild 
swans,  now  driven  far  to  the  south  and  soon  likely  to 
become  extinct,  were  abundant,  floating  on  the  water 
like  drifted  snow.  On  shore  the  Indians  brought  in  fat 
bucks  every  day,  which  they  sold  for  a  few  pipes  of  to- 
bacco or  a  measure  or  two  of  powder.  Turkeys,  grouse, 
and  varieties  of  song-birds  which  will  never  be  seen 
again  were  in  the  woods  and  fields.  Wild  pigeon  often 
filled  the  air  like  bees.'  " 

The  people  also  made  the  most  of  nature's  gener- 
osity in  the  products  of  the  soil,  showing  much  in= 
genuity  in  manufacturing  "  wine,  beer,  or  brandy 
out  of  sassafras,  persimmons,  corn,  and  apparently 
anything  that  could  be  made  to  ferment."  But 
their  height  of  prosperity  was  not  destined  to  con- 
tinue.    It  was  not  long  before  New  Netherland  had 


70  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

an  able  Director  in  Peter  Stuyvesant,  who  gradually 
increased  the  garrison  at  Nassau,  and  then  he  pur- 
chased from  the  natives  almost  the  entire  tract  that 
they  had  sold  eighteen  years  before  to  Minuit — from 
Christina  or  Minquas'  Creek  to  Bomptjes  Hoeck. 
On  what  was  known  as  Sandhuken,  a  beautiful 
headland  standing  out  boldly  into  the  Bay,  Stuyve- 
sant built  Fort  Casimir,  the  beginning  of  what  is 
now  New  Castle.  Printz  sent  a  protest  that  the  fort 
was  on  the  territory  of  New  Swedeland,  but  Stuyve- 
sant had  the  larger  forces,  and  Printz  was  obliged 
to  abandon  Elfsborg,  and  to  accept  the  second  place 
on  the  South  Bay.  Both  the  redoubtable  com- 
manders appreciated  that  if  they  fell  out  the  Eng- 
lish might  come  in,  so  they  agreed  by  letter  to 
keep  neighbourly  friendship  and  correspondence 
together,  and  act  as  friends  and  allies,"  though 
they  never  met.  Printz  notified  his  superiors  of  the 
change  in  his  situation,  and  asked  them  to  allow 
him  to  return,  or  to  send  someone  in  his  place.  He 
did  not  know  that  the  prestige  of  Sweden  had  begun 
to  fall  under  the  eccentricities  of  Queen  Christina. 
He  left  the  command  to  his  son-in-law,  Johan  Pappe- 
goja,  and  set  sail  for  home.  Perhaps  he  would  have 
turned  back  if  he  had  known  that  on  the  high  seas 
he  was  passing  a  man-of-war  sent  to  reinforce  him 
with  about  three  hundred  colonists.  But  had  he 
remained  at  his  post  he  might  have  been  angry 
enough  to  burst  a  blood-vessel,  for  Johan  Rysingh, 
the  commander  of  the  reinforcement,  made  no  at- 
tempt to  report  to  the  Governor,  whom  he  was  to 
displace  only  if  Printz  wished  to  retire,  and  ignoring 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH   COLONY  7 1 

all  his  pacific  instructions,  took  a  hostile  attitude 
before  Fort  Casimir,  about  May  25,  1654.  The 
Dutch  commandant,  Gerrit  Bikker,  reported  to 
Stuyvesant,  "  We  perceived  a  sail,  not  knowing 
who  she  was  or  where  from,"  and  sending  Adriaen 
Van  Tienhoven  aboard,  learned  the  astonishing 
news  that  the  new  Swedish  Governor  had  arrived 
and  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  fort.  While  the 
officers  were  wondering  what  they  should  do,  having 
no  powder,  Rysingh  sent  the  captain  of  the  ship 
into  the  fort  with  twenty  or  thirty  men,  their  swords 
drawn.  Poor  Bikker  said  that  he  "  welcomed  them 
as  friends,"  and  asked  a  parley;  but  his  *'  soldiers 
were  immediately  chased  out  of  the  fort  and  their 
goods  taken  in  possession,  as  likewise  my  property, 
and  I  could  hardly  by  entreaties  bring  it  so  far  to 
bear  that  I,  with  my  wife  and  children,  were  not 
likewise  shut  out  almost  naked." 

Van  Tienhoven  meantime  returned  to  the  man- 
of-war,  demanding  to  know  Rysingh's  authority, 
and  was  answered  that  it  rested  upon  the  orders  of 
Queen  Christina.  Her  Majesty's  ambassadors  at 
The  Hague  had  been  told  by  the  States-General 
and  the  directors  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Com- 
pany that  they  had  not  authorised  the  creation  of 
the  fort  on  Swedish  territory.  "  If  our  people  are 
in  your  Excellency's  way,"  the  complaisant  Dutch- 
men were  represented  as  saying,  "  drive  them  off." 
Rysingh  slapped  Van  Tienhoven  on  the  breast,  say- 
ing, **  Go,  tell  your  governor  that!  " 

The  rash  Swede  knew  little  of  "  Headstrong 
Piet  "  Stuyvesant.      He  promptly  wrote  to  Holland 


72  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

to  obtain  formal  contradiction  of  the  lie,  and  pre- 
pared for  revenge,  while  Rysingh  was  blithely  for- 
cing the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Sweden  or  immediate 
exile  upon  all  who  came  in  his  way,  and  with  much 
ado  taking  possession  of  the  fort.  The  skilful 
engineer  Peter  Lindstroem  was  directed  to  repair  it, 
and  it  was  named  TrcfaldigJicct,  Trinity  Fort,  be- 
cause its  conquest  had  occurred  in  the  season  de- 
voted to  the  commemoration  of  that  mystery. 

Meantime,  some  colour  was  given  to  Rysingh's 
assertions  by  the  arrival  of  a  new  colony  to  settle  a 
grant  which  Queen  Christina  had  made  the  year  be- 
fore to  a  Finnish  captain.  This  land  extended  from 
Maarte  Hoeck  or  Marcus  Hook  to  Upland  Creek, — 
now  the  boundary  between  Delaware  and  Pennsyl- 
vania,—  and  there  the  community  of  New  Finland 
was  settled.  As  Director-General  of  New  Swede- 
land,  Rysingh  enjoyed  authority  for  little  more 
than  the  year  1654,  in  which  Queen  Christina  closed 
her  erratic  reign  by  abdicating  in  favour  of  her 
cousin,  Charles  Gustavus. 

Stuyvesant  soon  received  letters  from  the  Com- 
pany's directors  in  Holland,  denouncing  poor  Bik- 
ker's  "  infamous  "  surrender,  and  ordering  Stuyves- 
ant **  to  exert  every  nerve  to  revenge  that  injury,  not 
only  by  restoring  affairs  to  their  former  situation, 
but  by  driving  the  Swedes  from  every  side  of  the 
river,  as  they  did  with  us."  In  the  slow  movement 
of  large  bodies  at  that  time,  it  was  not  till  about 
the  middle  of  September  in  the  next  year,  1655, 
that  even  the  enterprising  "  Old  Silver-leg  "  could 
surprise  Trinity  Fort  with  a  man-of-war,  six  small 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH  COLONY  73 

vessels,  and  some  six  or  seven  hundred  New  Ncther- 
land  volunteers.  He  thus  cut  off  aid  from  Christina, 
while  he  marched  the  Swedes  out  with  all  the 
honours  of  war,  his  own  men  entering  the  fort  with 
flying  colours.  His  chaplain,  Dominie  Megapolensis 
of  the  New  Amsterdam  church,  preached  a  sermon, 
Stuyvesant  wrote  to  the  City  Fathers,  "  with  our 
imperfect  thanksgiving,  as  God's  hand  and  bless- 
ing was  remarkably  visible  with  us,  as  well  in  the 
weather  and  prosperous  success  as  in  the  discourage- 
ment of  our  enemies." 

Twenty  Swedes,  two  thirds  of  the  whole  garrison, 
took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  "  the  high  and  mighty 
lords  and  patrons  of  this  New  Netherland  province," 
which  Stuyvesant  offered  with  the  privilege  of  re- 
maining as  freemen  on  South  River.  Then  he 
turned  his  attention  to  Christina.  Although  Ry- 
singh  had  but  thirty  soldiers,  eight  having  been 
taken  by  the  Dutch  on  their  way  to  aid  the  other 
garrison,  Stuyvesant  set  five  batteries  about  the 
fort.  Rysingh  saw  the  flag  of  the  States-General  all 
about  him,  floating  even  from  his  own  shallop  in  the 
river.  Yet  for  twelve  days  he  withstood  the  siege, 
while  the  enemy  wasted  the  country,  abused  the 
Swedish  women,  and  robbed  dwellings  and  barns  as 
far  as  Nya  Goteborg,  till,  as  he  wrote,  his  **  few 
and  hastily  collected  people  .  .  .  worn  out, 
partly  sick  and  partly  ill-disposed,  and  some  had 
deserted,"  offered  him  the  choice  of  mutiny  or  sur- 
render. The  forlorn  little  garrison  marched  out  of 
the  stronghold  where  Minuit  had  founded  New 
Swedeland  sixteen  years  before,  with  a  feeble  show 


74  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

of  "  beating  of  drums,  fifes,  and  flying  colours, 
firing  matches,  balls  in  their  mouths,  with  their 
hand  and  side  arms."  Free  transportation  to 
Europe  was  promised  to  all  who  preferred  the  Old 
Country  to  the  freedom  of  New  Netherland,  and  all 
Swedish  property  was  guaranteed  to  the  owners. 
Rysingh  might  have  retained  Christina  under  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  Dutch,  but  he  chose  to  return 
to  Sweden,  where  he  spent  many  years  in  trying  to 
induce  the  government  to  send  him  back  to  recover 
the  domain. 

When  New  Swedeland  fell,  it  numbered  nearly 
twenty  settlements,  villages,  trading  forts,  and 
groups  of  farms,  in  what  the  English  long  afterwards 
set  off  as  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  as  well  as 
Delaware ;  the  whole  number  of  people,  which  was 
apparently  never  recorded,  has  been  estimated  at 
not  more  than  three  thousand,  perhaps  much  less. 

A    DECADE    OF    DUTCH    DOMINION 

The  Dutchmen's  rule  lasted  for  ten  years,  filled 
with  trouble  and  change,  of  which  we  have  little 
record  but  lists  of  names.  It  was  a  rule  that  did 
nothing  to  advance  the  prosperity  of  the  colony, 
and  neither  encouraged  commercial  enterprise  nor 
promoted  agricultural  improvement;  but  it  left  a 
door  open  for  the  smuggling  adventurer  and  en- 
couraged in  the  settlers  a  disposition  to  carry  on 
clandestine  trade.  Stuyvesant  placed  his  officers 
over  the  conquest,  and  sent  some  families  from  New 
Amsterdam,  who  laid  out  a  small  village  under  the 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH   COLONY  75 

protecting  shadow  of  Fort  Casimir.  But  the  di- 
rectors in  Holland  soon  began  to  think  that  their 
South  Bay  territory  only  added  to  their  already 
troublesome  burdens,  and  made  over  that  often- 
conveyed  strip  of  western  shore  between  Christina 
or  Minquas'  Kill  and  Bomptjes  Hoeck  to  the  city 
of  Amsterdam  in  consideration  of  advances  that  the 
burgomasters  had  made  to  the  Company.  Then 
this  portion  of  the  country  was  called  the  Colony  of 
the  City,  or  the  Colony  of  Nieuwer  Amstel.  Fort 
Casimir  and  the  small  new  village  adjoining  were 
also  known  by  this  name.  In  the  early  spring  of 
1657  it  was  placed  in  charge  of  Jacob  Alrichs,  a 
severe  and  avaricious  man,  who  was  furnished  with 
powers  that  he  used  cruelly,  and  with  a  set  of  regu- 
lations suggesting  that  the  people  had  had  trouble 
over  fences,  goats,  and  many  other  such  matters. 
No  one  was  permitted  to  enter  the  fort  by  land  or 
water  without  leave.  In  order  to  save  the  wood 
for  the  use  of  the  fort  and  town,  it  was  decreed  that 
no  one  should  settle  within  the  four  miles  between 
this  post  and  Christina.  The  burgomasters  of 
Amsterdam  enthusiastically  offered  large  induce- 
ments to  emigrants;  but  were  discouraged  by  the 
fate  of  their  first  company,  over  a  hundred  people, 
who  narrowly  escaped  death  by  shipwreck,  only  to 
catch  colds  and  fevers  through  ignorance  or  care- 
lessness in  the  balmy  climate.  Many,  especially 
the  children,  died.  While  the  poor  survivors  were 
eating  their  reserve  of  seed  corn,  the  discouraged 
burgomasters  notified  them  that  they  would  supply 
provisions  no  longer,   and  that   taxes,   from  which 


']6  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

the  people  had  been  promised  exemption,  would  be 
laid  on  their  land  and  their  trade.  All  who  could 
do  so  left  the  colony  for  Maryland,  Virginia,  New 
Netherland,  or  their  former  homes  in  Holland. 
Bancroft  says,  "  The  attempt  to  elope  was  punish- 
able by  death,  yet  scarcely  thirty  families  remained. 
The  city  tried  in  vain  to  induce  the  Company  to 
resume  the  territory.  It  was  said  that  New  Amstel 
had  gained  "such  a  bad  name  that  the  whole  river 
would  not  wash  it  out." 

The  Company  retained  the  shore  both  below  and 
above  New  Amstel,  buying  from  the  Indians  all 
the  territory  from  Bomptjes  Hoeck  to  Cape  Hen- 
lopen,  throwing  up  defences  and  building  a  village 
where  twenty-nine  years  before  Zwanendael  had 
been  planted  and  destroyed,  and  where,  apparently, 
the  whale  fisheries  still  flourished.  The  land  north 
of  Christina  Creek  was  the  colony  of  the  Company. 
Under  Stuyvesant's  officers  the  desolated  Swedish 
places  were  rebuilt  and  renamed.  Christina,  called 
Altona,  was  made  the  capital ;  and  thither,  in  the 
fall  of  1658,  William  Beekman,  a  genial  and  intelli- 
gent alderman  of  New  Amsterdam,  was  sent  as 
vice-director.  Another  Dutchman  was  appointed 
Schout-fiscal  and  interpreter  over  the  Swedes,  to 
see  that  they  did  not  remain  in  the  forts  during  the 
night  or  do  anything  amiss.  More  than  once  they 
were  requested  to  gather  into  one  settlement,  but 
they  preferred  to  remain  in  the  homes  they  had  al- 
ready made,  though  Alrichs's  harshness  drove  many 
of  them  into  Maryland.  Beekman  saw  that  the 
region  had  no  people  to  spare,  with  barely  a  hundred 


DELAWARE,    SIXTH  COLONY  J  J 

and  fifty  Swedish  families  and  still  fewer  Dutch  ;  and 
when  Stuyvesant  a  second  time  desired  the  Swedes 
to  gather  into  one  settlement,  Beekman,  instead  of 
using  force  as  directed,  wrote  to  Stuyvesant  that  it 
was  "  unmerciful  to  force  people  from  their  culti- 
vated lands  and  put  them  to  new  labour  and  ex- 
pense." He  said  that  the  colony  could  ill  afford  to 
lose  those  who  were  gone,  and  requested  that  the 
order  should  be  revoked  and  the  families  provided 
with  books  and  other  inducements  to  remain  and 
draw  back  their  friends  from  the  English  pro- 
vinces. They  were  a  devout  and  apparently  educated 
people,  inclined  to  farming,  while  the  Dutch  took 
to  trade.  In  a  few  years  the  neighbours  of  the  two 
races  understood  each  other's  speech,  the  young 
ones  intermarrying,  and  the  religious  Dutch  attend- 
ing the  Swedes'  church.  Immediately  they  were 
jostled  by  Englishmen.      Mr.  Gay  says: 

"  Where  ships  of  all  nations  now  ride  safely  at  anchor 
off  the  quaint  little  village  of  Lewes,  under  the  lee  of  the 
Delaware  breakwater  .  .  .  more  than  two  centuries 
ago,  the  little  vessels  of  New  England  lingered  for  wind 
and  tide  [going  for  or  returning]  with  their  cargoes 
of  peltries  .  .  .  and  laughed  at  the  Dutch  garri- 
sons as  they  never  had  been  able  to  laugh  at  the  soldiers 
on  this  bay  before." 

Worse  trouble  threatened  when  Stuyvesant  de- 
manded that  Maryland  should  give  up  fugitive 
settlers  from  the  South  Bay.  For  answer,  Lord 
Baltimore  asserted  his  charter  right  to  the  territory 
below  the   fortieth  parallel.     Some   time   in    1659, 


78  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Colonel  Nathaniel  Utie  and  a  delegation  of  none 
too  amiable-looking  Marylanders  appeared  at  New 
Amstel  with  a  demand  from  their  Governor  Fendall 
for  the  country's  surrender.  The  Dutchmen  had 
but  twenty-five  soldiers  all  told,  two  thirds  of  them 
seventy-five  miles  away  at  Horekill,  while  the  peo- 
ple, "  worn  out  with  sickness  and  sullen  with  discon- 
tent," gathered  about  Utie  to  hear  him  "  insinuate  " 
the  "  good  conditions  "  of  the  Maryland  govern- 
ment, which  offered  "  protection  in  their  lives,  lib- 
erties, and  estates  "  — when  it  could  not  keep  its 
own  settlers  in  order!  Utie  told  Alrichs  that  the 
Maryland  authorities  were  determined  not  to  let  the 
opportunity  '*  pass  by,  convinced  as  we  are  of  your 
weakness  "  from  the  desertion  of  colonists.  But 
with  Beekman's  aid  in  courteous  manoeuvring  the 
visitors  were  turned  homeward,  convinced,  if  the 
Dutchmen  had  known  it,  that  Maryland  had  not 
militia  enough  to  enforce  the  claim.  Alrichs  and 
Beekman,  believing  that  they  had  merely  gained  a 
little  time  by  diplomacy,  hastened  to  lay  the  matter 
before  Stuyvesant,  who  displaced  them  from  office 
and  abused  them  roundly  for  their  temperate  course, 
but  pursued  the  same  himself.  Although  with  one 
of  his  new  officers  he  sent  sixty  soldiers,  his  "  real 
reliance  was  upon  his  ambassadors,  Augustine  Heer- 
mans  and  Resolved  Waldron,  who  were  to  push  on 
to  Maryland,  armed  only  with  his  letter  of  remon- 
strance," and  who  "  pinioned  their  opponents  on 
that  clause  in  the  Maryland  charter  limiting  the 
province  to  "  Jiactcmis  incidta,  hitherto  uncultivated 
country,   inhabited   only  by   Indians,"   and   forced 


DELAWARE,  SIXTH   COLONY  79 

them  to  refer  the  matter  to  their  superiors  in  Europe. 
The  next  year  the  Dutch  West  India  Company's 
Chamber  of  Nineteen  told  Lord  Baltimore's  attor- 
ney "  they  will  use  all  means  God  and  nature  have 
given  to  protect  the  inhabitants  of  their  territory." 
Two  years  later,  when  Beekman  was  back  in  Altona, 
he  wrote  to  Stuyvesant  that  he  had  heard  of  the 
arrival  of  Lord  Baltimore's  son  in  Maryland,  and 
that  "nothing  further  is  mentioned  of  any  intentions 
upon  this  district  "  ;  but  later  when  he  was  advised 
that  the  "young  Baltimore"  was  about  to  visit 
"  the  River,"  the  civil  sub-director  lamented  that 
Altona  contained  not  a  single  draught  of  French 
wine  to  offer  the  distinguished  visitor,  and  begged 
the  Director  to  "  send  some  and  charge  it  to  me." 

The  unpopular  Alrichs,  also  restored,  died  about 
this  time,  and  his  post  in  the  New  Amstel  Colony 
was  given  to  Alexander  D'Hinoyossa,  who  at  once 
set  up  quarrels  and  intrigues  against  his  neighbour 
in  office.  Beekman  said,  "  He  feels  himself  pretty 
high  and  is  strutting  forward  in  full  pride."  Soon 
he  was  off  secretly  for  Holland.  In  February,  1663, 
the  city  of  Amsterdam  took  over  the  Company's 
colony;  D'Hinoyossa  returned  as  Governor  of  the 
whole  territory;  and  "  strutted  forward  "  in  greater 
pride  than  ever  for  about  a  year  and  a  half,  till  the 
English  caused  his  fall. 


:  ''  v!n-/^" 


CHAPTER  IV 


A  CENTURY  AND  A  DECADE  OF  ENGIJSH   CONTROL 


THE    TERRITORIES    OF    NEW    YORK 


AFTER  Colonel  Nicolls  had  conquered  New 
Netherland  in  the  early  autumn  of  1664,  he 
bethought  himself  of  the  settlements  on  the  Dela- 
ware, as  the  English  called  both  bay  and  river. 
They  were  not  within  the  limits  of  the  Duke  of 
York's  patents,  but  they  were  part  of  the  Dutch 
occupation  ;  so  he  sent  his  demand  for  the  surrender 
of  the  country  with  a  small  force  commanded  by 
Sir  Robert  Carr,  one  of  his  associates  on  Charles 
II. 's  famous  '*  Commission  for  Enquiring  into  the 
State  of  New  England."  With  "  no  resistance  and 
almost  no  parley,"  submission  was  made  on  October 
I,  1664,  and  the  district  was  soon  furnished  with  a 
rudimentary  government   under   the   name    of   the 

Delaware  Territories."  It  was  afterwards  called 
the  New  Castle  Colony  of  New  York. 

Carr  did  not  follow  the  generous  example  of 
Nicolls.  He  allowed  some  of  the  Dutch  officers  to 
leave  the  country  in  peace,  but  seized  the  valuable 

80 


ENGLISH  CONTROL  8 1 

estates  of  Director  D'Hinoyossa  for  himself,  while 
his  soldiers  plundered  the  submissive  Dutch  and 
Swedes,  and  even  seized  some  of  them  and  sold 
them  as  servants  to  Virginia  planters.  Nicolls 
stopped  such  proceedings,  ordered  fair  play,  re- 
moved duties  from  trade,  and  tried  to  content 
those  who  remained.  But  after  three  years  or  so, 
when  he  gave  place  to  the  tyrannical  Governor 
Lovelace,  the  ten-per-cent.  duty  was  renewed,  and 
other  harsh  measures  pressed  upon  the  helpless 
people.  A  resolute  military  commander  was  in 
charge,  but  the  civil  power  seems  to  have  been 
given  to  "  the  bailiff,  alderman,  and  other  magis- 
trates, mostly  Dutch  and  Swedes,  continued  in 
ofifice  "  from  the  earlier  governments.  It  is  said 
that  for  over  ten  years  "  the  English  ...  al- 
lowed the  people  to  be  governed  by  the  mixture  of 
Swedish  and  Dutch  laws,  which  had  long  prevailed. 
The  intention  of  the  English  was  to  gradually  change 
them."  Not  until  1675  was  enforced  the  elaborate 
"  code  "  of  the  Duke's  laws,  providing  "  for  every- 
thing: branding  of  cattle,  fees  of  constables,  viewers 
of  pipe-staves,  and  cutting  of  underbrush."  The 
regulations  were  made  up  from  those  of  other  colo- 
nies "  with  improvements  "  ;  they  were  not  framed 
by  the  people  of  the  country,  and  do  not  reflect  the 
thought  or  the  condition  of  those  who  lived  under 
them.  They  were,  however,  "  declared  not  to 
apply  in  matters  relating  to  courts,  county  rates, 
and  militia,  which  were  left  as  before."  When  the 
settlers  were  summoned  to  make  the  long  and  ex- 
pensive journey  to  New  York  to  receive  the  Duke's 

VOL.  II.— 6. 


82  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

deeds  for  their  lands,  there  were  many  who  declined 
to  obey;  this  gave  room  for  much  questioning  of 
title  in  after  years. 

No  one  could  thank  Lovelace  for  such  leniency  as 
was  shown.  He  said:  "  The  method  for  keeping 
the  people  in  order  is  severity,  and  laying  such 
taxes  as  may  give  them  liberty  for  no  thought  but 
to  discharge  them."  On  the  occasion  of  his  rare 
visits,  he  lived  in  the  best  state  afforded  by  New 
Amstel,  or  Delaware  Town,  as  it  was  called.  In 
1672,  he  incorporated  it  as  the  town  of  New  Castle, 
with  a  bailiff  and  six  assistants,  and  liberty  to  trade 
without  entry  at  New  York.  Lovelace's  residence, 
which  stood  until  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  was  a  large  mansion  of  brick,  with  great 
hewn  timbers  and  cement  made  with  lime  burnt 
from  oyster-shells. 

As  a  free  port,  the  largest  village,  and  the  seat  of 
government.  New  Castle  became  "  the  important 
point  in  the  opinion  of  the  outside  world."  North- 
ward lay  the  much  diminished  hamlet  and  ruined 
fortifications  of  the  Swedish  Christina,  which  the 
English  called  Christeen,  ignoring  the  Dutch  name 
of  Altona,  and  near  which  Wilmington  was  built 
some  fifty  years  later.  Farther  north  were  Upland 
and  many  other  settlements  afterwards  incorporated 
into  the  province  of  Pennsylvania.  Southward 
from  the  primitive  capital  were  St.  Jones,  near  what 
is  now  Dover,  and  a  whale-fishing  station  at  Cape 
Henlopen,  not  far  from  the  site  of  the  Dutchmen's 
first  tragic  settlement  of  Zwanendael.  The  latter 
was    known    by    several    corruptions    of   the    name 


ENGLISH  CONTROL  83 

Hoornkill,  and  later  built  up  by  the  town  of 
Lewes. 

The  English  did  no  more  to  improve  farming  and 
trade  on  this  shore  than  the  Dutch  had  done.  Their 
cruisers  "  cut  off  the  New  England  and  Long  Island 
contrabandists,  crushing  the  principal  source  of  all 
the  little  business  that  animated  the  cheerless  life 
of  the  settler."  As  farming  industries  dwindled, 
the  trafilic  in  rum  increased,  and  under  its  influence 
the  first  murders  by  Indians  were  committed. 

The  conquered  people  refused  to  become  English. 
They  taught  their  children  to  speak  their  mother- 
tongues,  and  to  cherish  their  national  customs  and 
religion,  the  Dutch  helping  to  support  the  Swedish 
churches.  One  small  attempt  at  rebellion  was  led 
by  Marcus  Jacobson,  who  called  himself  a  son  of 
the  great  Swedish  general,  Koningsmarck,  but  who 
was  known  here  as  "  The  Long  Finn."  A  dominie 
and  at  least  one  person  of  considerable  property 
were  among  those  who  joined  him  in  trying  to  in- 
duce the  Swedes  and  Finns  —  whom  Bancroft  calls 
the  most  patient  of  all  immigrants  —  to  set  up  the 
standard  of  their  own  sovereign.  Scarcely  any- 
thing is  known  of  the  miniature  rebellion.  After 
arrest  and  trial  in  New  York,  Jacobson  was  con- 
demned to  death,  but  the  sentence  was  commuted 
to  a  whipping,  the  brand  of  rebel  on  his  breast,  and 
transportation  to  Barbadoes,  there  to  be  sold  into 
slavery.  The  other  leaders  forfeited  one  half  of 
their  possessions  to  Charles  11.  or  his  brother,  the 
Duke  of  York,  and  gave  security  for  good  behaviour. 

There  is  one  other  incident  of  this  time  told  in 


84  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

the  scanty  records.  A  party  of  Marylanders,  headed 
by  one  Jones,  and  aided  by  Daniel  Brown,  a  resi- 
dent, took  possession  of  the  Hoornkill  defences  and 
settlement,  and  for  some  time  held  the  personal 
property  of  the  inhabitants,  until,  by  order  of  the 
Council  at  New  York,  the  "  officers  and  magistrates 
of  the  town  "  rose  up  and  regained  control. 

When  the  Dutch  recaptured  New  Netherland, 
these  shuttlecock  territories  passed  the  happy  years 
of  1673-1674  under  Peter  Alrichs.  The  Dutch  names 
were  destroyed,  and  the  western  shore  was  divn'ded 
into  three  judicatures.  Of  these  the  most  southerly 
was  about  the  Hoorn  ;  the  next  included  the  capital ; 
while  the  northerly  division  embraced  Christina, 
Upland,  and  "  the  country  up  the  river." 

When  all  became  New  York  again,  names  were 
made  English  once  more,  but  the  divisions  were  re- 
tained by  the  Duke's  new  Governor,  Sir  Edmund 
Andros.  The  next  six  or  seven  years  are  a  blank, 
though  hardly,  it  is  to  be  feared,  because  of  the 
happiness  that  leaves  no  records.  We  know  little 
more  about  the  settlers  than  that  they  had  many 
mills  and  prosperous  farms,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
splendid  physique  and  sterling  character  which 
made  them  people  much  desired  as  colonists  within 
the  limits  of  Penn's  "  free  and  happy  province." 

THE    "lower    counties"    OF    PENNSYLVANIA 

In  1681,  the  country  again  changed  hands,  though 
keeping  its  nationality.  After  William  Penn  had 
received  from  Charles  II.  the  grant  of  Pennsylvania, 


ENGLISH  CONTROL  85 

this  small  adjoining  territory  was  presented  to  him 
by  the  Duke  of  York.  Although  it  is  believed  that 
such  title  as  the  Duke  could  convey  to  the  land  did 
not  carry  with  it  any  powers  of  government,  it  was 
with  his  Royal  Highness's  sanction,  apparently,  that 
the  proprietor  of  Pennsylvania  assumed  control  of 
all  the  western  shore  of  Delaware  Bay. 

When  Penn  made  his  first  visit  to  America  in 
October,  1682,  he  landed  at  New  Castle.  All  the 
people  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  many  from  a  dis- 
tance, gathered  to  greet  him.  The  great  man 
looked  little  enough  like  a  Quaker  in  his  elegant 
court  dress  and  lace  ruffles.  He  was  surrounded  by 
such  pomp  and  circumstance  as  the  people  had 
never  seen,  even  upon  the  visits  of  the  Duke's  gov- 
ernors. In  the  court-house,  with  impressive  cere- 
monies, he  took  formal  possession  of  the  territories, 
retaining  the  magistrates  then  in  office,  explaining 
his  reasons  for  founding  his  province,  and  giving  his 
solemn  promise  that  the  inhabitants  of  his  lands 
should  have,  so  far  as  he  could  give  it  them,  "  un- 
disturbed enjoyment  of  civil  and  religious  liberty." 

The  people  were  so  pleased  with  Penn  and  his 
"  holy  experiment  "  in  colonisation  that  they  made 
formal  request  to  be  included  under  the  government 
of  Pennsylvania  —  as  it  was  clearly  necessary  for 
them  to  do  in  order  to  give  the  appearance  of  legal- 
ity to  Penn's  jurisdiction.  They  were  cordially 
received.  The  freeholders  of  the  province,  imme- 
diately after  the  adoption  of  their  constitution, 
passed  an  "Act  of  Union,"  annexing  the  Delaware 
territories,   or  the  "  three  lower  counties,"  of  New 


86  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

Castle,  Kent,  and  Sussex,  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
their  own  three  "  upper  "  counties.  The  connection 
lasted  but  ten  years,  and  even  in  this  short  period 
was  broken  and  patched  up  again. 

In  the  Provincial  Council,  which  met  in  1683  with 
nine  members  from  each  of  the  six  counties,  Penn 
promised  them  that  they  might  "  amend,  alter,  or 
add  to  "  the  constitution  "  for  the  public  good," 
and  said  that  he  was  "  ready  to  settle  such  founda- 
tions as  might  be  for  their  happiness  and  the  good 
of  their  posterity."  A  great  day  had  dawned  for 
these  people.     As  Ferris^  says: 

"  The  constitution  not  only  gave  them  freedom  to 
direct  their  powers  toward  the  attainment  of  desirable 
objects,  but  set  before  them  an  open  door  to  the  attain- 
ment of  everything  desirable  to  a  rational  mind.  All 
the  original  settlers  soon  felt  the  change.  From  this 
period  we  perceive  in  their  records  the  evidences  of  a 
more  active  condition.  They  were  wholly  untrammelled 
by  Church  and  State  —  their  people  became  councillors, 
legislators,  officers  in  various  departments  under  the 
government.  Trade  with  foreign  countries  was  opened, 
and  a  livelier  communication  with  the  rest  of  the  world 
began  to  take  place." 

But  it  was  clear  from  the  first  that  the  shrewd, 
frugal  English  and  Germans  of  the  upper  counties, 
with  their  strong  commercial  instincts,  must  have 
the  predominant  part  in  any  union  with  this  small 

*  A  History  of  the  Original  Settle??ients  of  the  Dela^vare  from  its 
Discovery  by  Hudson  to  the  Colonization  tinder  William  Penn. 


ENGLISH  CONTROL  8/ 

group  of  easy-going  Swedish  and  Dutch  farmers  and 
millers.  Some  writers  say  that  the  old  stock  felt  a 
natural  jealousy  of  the  growth  of  the  new  colony, 
and  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  with  its  prosperous 
trade.  Others  think  that  good  judgment  dictated 
prompt  measures  to  save  the  ancient  Lutheran 
plantation  from  being  absorbed  by  an  aggressive 
people,  for  whose  nationality  and  religion  they  had 
less  of  common  interest  than  of  hereditary  dislike. 
At  the  first  signs  of  the  probable  outcome  in  all 
matters  of  conflicting  interests,  the  "  lower  coun- 
ties "  began  to  question  Penn's  rights  over  their 
territory.  He  lost  no  time  in  writing  to  his  special 
friends,  asking  them  to  assert  that  his  right  was  un- 
questionable, as  based  on  a  royal  patent;  *'  but," 
says  Hildreth,  "  no  other  proof  of  the  existence  of 
such  a  document  anywhere  appears.  No  doubt  he 
had  intended  to  obtain  one,  but  was  prevented  by 
the  Revolution  which  drove  James  II.  from  the 
throne." 

The  first  real  measure  of  separation  was  adopted 
in  1691,  when  the  six  *'  councillors  "  from  the  lower 
counties  found  their  wishes  so  opposed  that  they 
withdrew  in  dudgeon,  called  a  legislature  of  their 
own,  and  elected  for  their  Governor  Captain  William 
Markham,  Penn's  cousin,  and  the  leader  of  his  first 
immigration. 

When,  in  1693,  King  William  sent  out  Benjamin 
Fletcher  as  Governor  for  the  Crown,  he  called  an 
Assembly  from  both  upper  and  lower  counties  with- 
out distinction,  and  the  incident  closed.  The  genial 
soldier,  who  made  many  pages  of  pleasant  reading 


88  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

in  the  stories  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  contin- 
ued Markham  as  his  deputy.  With  so  popular  an 
executive,  and  with  the  French  war  in  Canada 
hardly  affecting  this  region  except  to  encourage  a 
little  privateering,  the  episode  was  of  benefit  to  the 
territories,  both  for  the  time  being,  and  after  Penn's 
claims  were  restored  to  him. 

The  few  records  of  the  time  show  little  but  the 
people's  devotion  to  their  Swedish  Lutheran  wor- 
ship. From  1691,  when  Jacob  Fabritius,  old  and 
blind,  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  ministry  at  Chris- 
tina, the  people  of  the  **  upper  congregations  "  were 
without  a  settled  pastor  for  six  years,  much  to  their 
distress.  They  offered  a  yearly  salary  of  one  hun- 
dred rix-dollars,  with  a  house  and  glebe,  and  im- 
pressed their  longing  for  a  spiritual  leader  on  the 
mind  of  Andrew  Printz,  then  on  a  visit  to  the  people 
once  governed  by  his  celebrated  uncle.  On  his  re- 
turn to  Sweden,  he  told  their  story  to  John  Thelin, 
the  postmaster  at  Gottenburg,  who  wrote  to  them 
that  if  they  would  clearly  set  down  their  needs  on 
paper,  he  would  present  them  to  the  King  of 
Sweden.  The  people,  before  answering  this  letter, 
showed  it  to  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  who  at 
once  cordially  approved  of  the  plan.  Soon  after- 
wards Penn  himself  petitioned  the  Swedish  Minister 
to  England  on  their  behalf,  and  sent  them  "  a  par- 
cel of  books  and  catechisms  with  a  folio  Bible  for 
the  church."  Then,  May  23,  1693,  the  colonists 
wrote  to  the  friendly  Thelin : 

**  We  rejoice  that  His  Majesty  doth  still  bear  us  a 


REVEREND    ERIC    BJORCK. 


89 


ENGLISH  CONTJWL  9 1 

tender  and  a  Christian  care.     Therefore  do  we  heartily 
desire     .      .      .     two  Swedish  ministers,  well  learned  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures     .     .     .     that  we  may  preserve  our 
true  Lutheran  faith,  which,  if  called  to  suffer  for,  we  are 
ready  to  seal  with  our  blood.     We  also  request  that  those 
ministers  may  be  of  good  moral  lives  and  characters  so 
that  they  may  instruct  our  youth  by  their  example,  and 
lead  them  into  a  pious  and  virtuous  way  of  life.     Also 
three  books  of  sermons,  twelve  Bibles,  forty-two  psalm 
books,  one  hundred  tracts,  two  hundred  catechisms;   for 
which,    when   received,    we   promise   punctual   payment 
.     .     .     also    a    proper  maintenance   to    the    ministers. 
.     .     .     We  are  for  the  most  part   husbandmen.     We 
plough  and  sow  and  till  the  ground,  and  as  to  our  meat 
and  drink,  we  live  according  to  the  old  Swedish  custom. 
This  country  is  very  rich  and  fruitful,  and  here  grow  all 
sorts  of  grain  in  great  plenty,  so  that  we  are  richly  sup- 
plied with  meat  and  drink;  and  we  send  out  yearly  to 
our  neighbours  on  this  continent  and  the  neighbouring 
islands  bread,  grain,  flour,  and  oil.     We  have  here  also 
all   sorts  of  beasts,   fowls,   and  fishes.     Our  wives   and 
daughters  employ  themselves  in  spinning  wool  and  flax, 
and   many  of  them    in  weaving.      .     .     .     We    live    in 
peace  and  friendship  with  one  another;  and  the  Indians 
have  not  molested  us  for  many  years.     Since  this  coun- 
try has  ceased  to  be  under  the  government  of  Sweden, 
we  are  bound  to  acknowledge  and  declare  for  the  sake 
of  truth,  that  we  have  been  well  and  kindly  treated,  as 
well  by  the  Dutch  as  by  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Eng- 
land,  our  gracious  sovereign.     The  Swedes  have  been 
and  still  are  true  and  faithful  to  him  in  word  and  deed. 
We  have  always  had  over  us  good  and  gracious  magis- 
trates, and  we  live  in  the  greatest  union  and  peace  with 
each  other." 


92  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

At  this  time,  it  is  shown  by  a  list  still  extant, 
there  were  exactly  nine  hundred  and  forty-five 
Swedish  families  in  what  had  been  New  Swedeland. 
Their  requests  for  ministers  were  answered,  after 
three  years,  by  the  arrival  from  Sweden  of  Andrew 
Rudman,  Master  of  Philosophy;  Eric  Bjorck  and 
Jonas  Auren ;  all  of  whom  were  "  welcomed  with 
great  joy."  The  letters  of  these  active  and  schol- 
arly men  add  many  interesting  details  to  our  scant 
knowledge  of  the  colony.  Rudman  wrote:  "  We 
live  scattered  among  the  English,  yet  our  language 
is  preserved  as  pure  as  anywhere  in  Sweden." 
Bjorck  declared : 

"  The  country  is  delightful,  as  it  has  always  been  de- 
scribed, and  overflows  with  every  blessing,  so  that  the 
people  live  very  well  without  being  compelled  to  too 
much  or  too  severe  labour.  The  taxes  are  very  light. 
The  farmers,  after  their  work  is  over,  live  as  they  do  in 
Sweden,  but  are  clothed  as  the  respectable  inhabitants 
of  the  towns.  .  .  .  There  are  no  poor  in  this  coun- 
try, but  they  all  provide  for  themselves;  for  the  land  is 
rich  and  fruitful,  and  no  man  who  will  labour  can  suffer 
want.  The  English  have  received  us  extremely  well; 
the  government  is  mild,  and  the  people  live  quietly  under 
Governor  Markham,  who  reproaches  us  with  not  going 
often  enough  to  see  him,  and  has  left  us  quite  at  liberty 
as  to  our  Church  discipline.  There  are  many  Swedes 
employed  in  the  administration  of  the  government." 

Proof  of  their  prosperity  as  well  as  of  their  devo- 
tion to  religion  was  given  by  Bjorck's  flock  at  once, 
when  he  proposed  to  build  a  stone  church  at  Chris- 


ENGLISH   CONTROL 


93 


tina  to  be  used  in  place  of  the  wooden  edifice  at 
Crane  Hook,  the  approaches  to  which  were  flooded 
at  high  tide.     A  creditable  building  was  put  up  im- 


OLD    SWEDES     CHURCH. 


mediately  near  the  place  where  the  first  Swedish 
colony  under  Peter  Minuit  had  landed,  sixty-one 
years  before,  and  was  formally  dedicated  as  Trinity 
Church  on  Trinity  Sunday,  May  5,  1699.  There 
were  many  hundred  persons  present,  for  whom  the 
thoughtful  Bjorck  provided  refreshment,  after  the 
service  ;  and  who,  for  their  part,  gave  into  the  col- 


94  THE    Tin R  TEEN   COLONIES 

lection  hat  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars,  equal 
to  at  least  five  times  as  much  as  that  in  our  money. 
The  Swedish  government  continued  to  keep  the 
colonists  supplied  with  missionaries,  filling  the  places 
of  any  who  died  or  wished  to  return  home,  until  the 
end  of  the  century,  when  ''  the  Swedish  language 
had  ceased  to  be  intelligible  to  the  hearers,  and  the 
congregations"  were  "  able  to  provide  for  them- 
selves .  .  .  more  acceptable  ministry."  This 
was  not  until  after  the  rebellion  against  England 
and  the  formation  of  the  State  of  Delaware. 

For  a  few  years  after  William  III.  restored  both 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  to  William  Penn,  they 
remained  united  peaceably  under  the  administration 
of  Markham,  whom  Penn  reappointed  chiefly  be- 
cause he  could  find  no  one  else  acceptable  to  all  the 
colonists.  From  Markham,  as  the  story  of  Penn- 
sylvania tells,  they  secured  a  "  Frame  "  of  govern- 
ment according  to  their  own  wishes,  and  more 
liberal  than  that  which  Penn  had  given  them. 

In  1699,  Penn  arrived  for  his  second  visit,  which, 
contrary  to  his  plans,  lasted  only  two  years.  When 
he  bestowed  upon  his  turbulent  province  the  new 
constitution     of     i/Oi,     founded     on     Markham's 

Frame,"  he  made  every  possible  effort  to  secure 
the  permanent  annexation  of  the  **  lower  counties." 
But  the  freeholders  of  Pennsylvania  refused  to  guar- 
antee "  perpetual  equality  of  power,"  though  they 
offered,  they  said,  very  generous  concessions.  The 
Delawareans  accepted  the  latter  only  with  a  pro- 
vision allowing  them  a  separate  government  after 
three  years,  whenever  they  might  choose  to  with- 


ENGLISH   CONTROL  95 

draw  from  the  province.  When  Penn  returned  to 
England  he  left  affairs  in  charge  of  the  able  and 
aged  Deputy-Governor  Andiew  Hamilton;  but 
Hamilton's  power  and  tact,  which  for  many  years 
had  held  in  check  both  the  restless  Jerseys,  were  un- 
equal to  maintaining  this  union. 

THE    ROYAL    PROVINCE    OF    DELAWARE 

In   1703,   the  province  of   Delaware   declared   its 
final  separation  from   Pennsylvania,  elected  its  own 
House   of   Representatives,   and   sent   an   agent   to 
England  to  convey  the  people's  assurance  of  their 
loyalty  to  Queen  Anne,  to  show  her  Majesty  that 
Penn  had  no  right  of  jurisdiction,  and  to  beg  the 
appointment  of  a  royal   governor.      In   accordance 
with  his  principles  of  free  government  by  the  colo- 
nists themselves,    Penn  was  obliged  to  accept  the 
situation.       He   consented   to   the   separation   with 
good-will,   but  grieved   for  the   necessity,  and  the 
Queen,  to  show  favour  to  both  sides,  erected   Dela- 
ware into  a  Crown  province  with  a  representative 
government  and  appointed  Penn's  deputy,  the  wild 
youth,  John  Evans,  as  her  Governor.     As  her  pre- 
cedent was  followed  during  about  seventy-five  years, 
—till  both  colonies  became  States, — Delaware  was 
compelled  to  submit  to  the  governors  and  council- 
lors appointed  in  the  interest  of  her  great  neighbour, 
but   her   House   of   Representatives   and    all    other 
branches  of  government  were  entirely  distinct.    The 
outside   world   regarded   her  as  a  part  of  Pennsyl- 
vania.      Historians    so    treat    her,  —  owing   to    the 


96  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

paucity  of  records  of  her  own, —  and  indeed  the 
bond  seems  to  have  been  so  close  that  many  lead- 
ing men  held  both  estates  and  public  office  in  the 
two  colonies  at  the  same  time.  The  Delawareans, 
like  the  Pennsylvanians,  were  a  peace-loving,  sim- 
ple, and  dignified  people.  They  were  good  neigh- 
bours for  Friends,  notwithstanding  differences  of 
religion  and  nationality  and  a  disposition  for  active 
resistance  to  the  first  aggression  upon  what  they 
considered  their  rights. 

Unlike  the  Quakers  in  another  respect,  they  wel- 
comed colonists  of  the  Church  of  England.  It  is  of 
record  that  by  1723 

"  the  English  Episcopal  and  the  Swedish  Lutheran 
churches  in  America  found  themselves  so  nearly  united 
in  doctrine  and  in  sentiment  respecting  other  matters 
that  .  .  .  they  officiated  in  each  other's  churches." 
Some  English  clergymen  wrote  to  Sweden  :  "So  great 
was  our  mutual  agreement  in  doctrine  and  worship,  and 
so  constant  were  they  in  attending  our  conventions,  that 
there  was  not  visible  discriminations  between  us,  but 
what  proceed  from  the  different  languages  wherein  they 
and  we  were  bound  to  officiate." 

Samuel  Hesselius,  who  cam^e  from  Sweden  in 
1 7 19,  and  remained  twelve  years,  preached  to 
Churchmen  in  Pennsylvania  so  much  to  their  satis- 
faction that  the  English  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  "  sent  .  .  .  ten 
pounds  sterling  as  an  acknowledgment  of  their 
gratitude  for  his  services,  with  the  promise  of  as 
much   annually  in   future  on  receiving  satisfactory 


ENGLISH  CONTROL  97 

evidence  that  he  had  preached  in  the  English 
churches  at  least  twenty  times  a  year." 

It  was  while  Samuel  Hesselius  was  pastor  at  Chris- 
teen,  probably  in  1728,  that  Thomas  Willing,  an 
Englishman  from  Pennsylvania,  built  on  the  bank 
of  the  Christiana,  as  a  home  for  his  bride,  the  first 
house  in  what  is  now  the  metropolis  of  the  State. 
Other  dwellings  soon  arose  about  Willing's,  forming 
the  hamlet  of  Willington,  which  in  some  ten  years 
numbered  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  build- 
ings, and  was  chartered  as  the  borough  of  Wil- 
mington. 

During  most  of  this  time,  the  sturdy  and  inde- 
pendent little  colony  was  without  settled  boundaries, 
the  field  of  contention  between  the  proprietors  of 
Pennsylvania  on  the  north  and  Maryland  on  the 
west.  In  1732,  the  lines  were  fixed  by  an  agree- 
ment— made  to  be  repented — by  Charles,  fifth  Lord 
Baltimore,  and  accepted  without  delay  by  William 
Penn's  business-like  son  Thomas.  The  boundary 
on  the  north  was  that  contended  for  by  William 
Penn,  almost  a  half-circle,  drawn  at  a  radius  of 
twelve  miles  from  New  Castle  until  it  touched  a 
line  on  the  west,  running  due  south  to  Cape  Hen- 
lopen  at  the  mouth  of  Delaware  Bay,  A  lively 
dispute  over  the  true  position  of  Cape  Henlopen 
followed.  It  had  been  confused,  some  said,  since 
early  times  with  "  a  slight  rounding  of  the  beach 
and  a  boldness  of  outline  on  the  shore  "  twenty 
miles  farther  south,  which  appears  to  incoming 
mariners,  by  an  optical  illusion  common  to  that 
coast,   as   "  a   long   tongue   of   land  stretching  out 


98  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

into  the  ocean."  It  was  said  that  the  early  Dutch 
navigators  had  called  this  latter  Heenloopeen  or 
Hinlopen,  meaning  a  disappearing  cape;  but  others 
say  that  the  name  was  that  of  Inloopeen,  a  well- 
known  Dutch  merchant,  or  else  a  word  meaning 
the  "  entering  cape,"  contending  that  it  was  always 
applied  to  the  real  cape,  while  the  deceptive  tongue 
of  land  twenty  miles  to  the  southward  was  known 
as  False  Cape.  At  any  rate,  when  the  long-con- 
tested boundary  line  was  run,  it  was  from  the  false, 
not  the  true  cape — which  resulted  in  the  addition 
of  a  goodly  parcel  of  land  to  the  small  province  of 
Delaware,  though  at  the  time  the  question  lay  be- 
tween the  Penn  family  and  Lord  Baltimore. 

Now,  indeed,  for  half  a  century  the  Delaware 
people  seem  to  have  had  the  happiness  that  makes 
no  history,  if  we  may  judge  from  a  manuscript  in 
the  possession  of  one  of  the  oldest  English  families 
there  —  perhaps  the  only  description  of  these  times 
at  present  within  our  reach.  It  was  written  by 
Thomas  Rodney  of  Kent  County,  a  younger  brother 
of  Caesar  Rodney,  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  struggle 
for  colonial  rights.      He  said: 

"  The  manners  and  customs  of  the  white  people  when 
I  first  remember  were  very  simple,  plain  and  social. 
Very  few  foreign  articles  were  used  in  this  part  of  the 
country  for  eating,  drinking,  or  clothing.  Almost  every 
family  manufactured  their  own  clothes;  and  beef,  pork, 
poultry,  milk,  butter,  cheese,  wheat,  and  Indian  corn 
were  raised  by  themselves,  served  them  with  the  fruits 
of  the  country,  and  wild  game  for  food;  and  cider,  small 
beer,  and  peach  and  apple  brandy  for  drink.     The  best 


ENGLISH  CONTROL  99 

families  in  the  country  but  seldom  used  tea,  coffee, 
chocolate,  or  sugar,  for  honey  was  their  sweetening. 
The  largest  farmers  of  that  time  did  not  sow  over  twenty 
acres  of  wheat,  nor  tend  more  than  thirty  acres  of  Indian 
corn,  and  there  was  very  few  of  this  sort,  so  that  all  the 
familiesin  the  country  had  a  great  deal  of  idle  time,  for, 
the  land  being  fertile,  supplied  them  plentifully  by  a 
little  labour,  with  all  that  was  necessary,  nay  with  great 
abundance,  more  than  enough,  grudged  nothing  to  those 
who  happened  to  want.  Indeed,  they  seemed  to  live,  as 
it  were,  in  concord;  for  they  constantly  associated  to- 
gether in  one  house  or  another  in  considerable  numbers, 
to  play  and  frolic,  at  which  times  the  young  people  would 
dance,  and  the  elder  ones  wrestle,  run,  hop,  jump,  or 
throw  the  disc,  or  play  at  some  rustic  or  manly  exercise. 
On  Christmas  Eve  there  was  an  universal  firing  of  guns, 
and  travelling  round  from  house  to  house  during  the 
holiday,  and  indeed  all  winter  there  was  a  continual 
frolic  at  one  house  or  another,  shooting  matches,  twelfth- 
cakes,  etc. 

"  This  manner  of  life  continued  until  the  war  com- 
menced in  1755,  but  this  occasioned  a  sudden  and  uni- 
versal change  in  the  country.  Soldiers  were  raised,  and 
people  formed  into  militia,  great  sums  of  government 
money  were  expended,  new  taxes  were  laid,  and  a  great 
variety  of  civil  and  military  offices  became  necessary. 
Produce  became  more  valuable,  etc.,  etc.,  then  in  a  few 
years  the  country  became  engaged  in  more  pursuits  and 
put  on  quite  a  new  appearance,  yet  this  operated  chiefly 
on  the  younger  people,  and  the  old  habits  and  customs 
gradually  wore  off,  until  they  are  at  length  almost  forgot; 
for  what  little  remained  till  then  was  expelled  by  the 
Revolution,  which  has  naturally  wrought  a  far  greater 
change  than  the  former  war." 


lOO  THE    rillRTEEX   COLONIES 

Exactly  what  these  well-to-do  and  self-respecting 
colonists  contributed  to  the  French  and  Indian  Wars 
it  seems  impossible  to  discover;  or  what  part  they 
took  in  the  troubles  of  the  provinces  with  King 
George  III.  that  followed  immediately  after  the 
conquest  of  Canada  and  the  Treaty  of  Paris  in  1763. 
Mr.  Bayard  says,  in  a  valuable  contribution  to  the 
meagre  collections  cf  Delaware's  history,  that  at  the 
time  of  the  Stamp  Act  the  people 

""  were  apparently  in  the  secure  enjoyment  of  all  and 
more  than  their  progenitors  had  left  Europe  to  secure. 
Not  only  was  every  birthright  of  freeborn  Eng- 
lishmen amply  proved  and  secured,  but  a  freedom  from 
the  rule  of  classes  and  privileged  orders  was  granted,  to 
which  English  subjects  elsewhere  were  strangers;  local 
self-government  in  all  its  particulars  and  essentials  was 
the  w^ise  basis. 

"  From  the  simple  and  happy  pastoral  life  thus  pic- 
tured by  an  eye-witness,  Caesar  Rodney  .  .  .  emerged 
with  his  colleague,  Thomas  McKean  of  New  Castle  (a 
well  known  lawyer  of  Pennsylvania),  took  his  seat  in 
.  the  Stamp  Act  Congress  .  .  .  in  New  York 
in  October,  1765."  Their  share  "  in  this  important 
Congress  was  conspicuous  and  influential."  They  "  ap- 
pear to  have  supplemented  the  designs  and  objects  of 
each  other  throughout  in  the  most  zealous  and  efficient 
manner," 

When  they  returned  to  Delaware  they  were  received 
"  with  high  honour  and  every  manifestation  of  respect, 
and  their  action  in  the  Congress  was  approved  unani- 
mously of  the  General  Assembly,  and  a  vote  of  thanks 
for  their  energy  and  ability  was  passed.  Upon  the  re- 
peal of  the  Stamp  Act  in  1766  Mr.  Rodney  was  appointed 


EXGLISH  COXTJ^OL  lOI 

b)-  the  Legislature,  together  with  Thomas  McKean  and 
George  Reed,  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  King  ex- 
pressive of  their  grateful  sentiments,  .  .  .  and  this 
paper  was  marked  with  the  sincere  and  tenacious  devo- 
tion to  the  Crown  which  befitted  the  most  attached 
subjects." 

In  the  quiet  before  the  next  storm,  Rodney's  in- 
fluence grew  to  great  power  in  the  Legislature  and 
throughout  the  colony,  though  he  tried  in  vain  to 
abolish  slavery.  He  was  Speaker  when  smoulder- 
ing  discontent  broke  into  flame  at  the  news  of  the 
closing  of  the  port  of  Boston.  **  Xo  colon}-  moved 
with  more  alacrity  than  Delaware  '  upon  Massachu- 
setts' request  for  a  Continental  Congress.  Free- 
holders' meetings  were  held  in  each  of  the  three 
counties,  and  on  August  ist  the  counties  united  in 
a  convention  at  New  Castle,  which,  with  Rodney 
as  chairman,  passed  resolutions  of  no  uncertain 
tenor,  and  clearly  the  work  of  men  well  instructed 
in  English  law.  Rodney,  McKean,  and  Reed  were 
sent  to  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia.  The  Legisla- 
ture approved  of  that  body's  .iction  also,  and  the 
share  taken  in  it  by  its  delegates. 

Of  McKean's  reputation  and  services  to  the  whole 
countr\%  Mr.  Bayard  says,  **  it  seems  impossible  :o 
speak  too  highh',  and  he  was  the  only  man  who, 
without  intermission,  sened  as  a  member  of  the 
Continental  Congress  from  the  time  of  its  opening 
in  1774  until  after  the  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  in 
1783.''  During  part  of  that  time  he  was  also  Chief- 
Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  as  well  as  President  of  tlie 
State  of  Delaware. 


I02  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

The  spirit  of  resistance  was  much  more  decisive 
and  more  general  here  than  in  Pennsylvania.  "  The 
stir  of  miHtary  preparations  .  .  .  began  before 
the  battle  of  Lexington  ...  in  the  enrollment 
and  equipment  of  the  militia."  It  is  believed  that 
the  colony  numbered  at  most  thirty-five  thousand 
souls,  two  thousand  of  them  negroes;  the  military 
age  was  declared  to  be  between  sixteen  and  fifty 
years,  and  therefore  it  has  been  estimated  that 
twenty-one  hundred  and  twenty-five  able-bodied 
men  might  have  been  a  fair  proportion  for  the  little 
colony's  force.  But  she  raised  over  forty-seven 
hundred  men  for  the  Continental  army,  beside 
military  battalions  and  companies  for  home  protec- 
tion. Upon  the  call  of  Congress  a  regiment  was 
made  ready  at  once  to  join  Washington's  army 
before  Boston.  Other  divisions  were  so  disposed 
as  to  defend  the  province ;  and  in  that  duty  Mr. 
Bayard  says,  so  far  as  he  can  discover,  they  were 
not  aided  by  any  armed  forces  from  the  Continental 
army.     He  states  also: 

"  Our  little  commonwealth  in  the  war  for  American 
independence  discloses  the  name  of  no  venal  or  selfishly 
ambitious  trader  in  his  country's  woes.  .  .  .  Their 
numbers  were  few,  and  the  trumpet  of  local 
laudation  not  so  loud  as  may  sometimes  have  been 
heard  in  other  quarters,  but  every  Delawarean  may  ask 
the  whole  world  to  look  upon  the  unsullied  record  of 
our  Revolutionary  ancestors,  and  find  there  abundant 
cause  for  honest  pride  and  grateful  remembrance. 
.  At  all  the  conferences  and  conventions  at 
any  time  called  during  the  colonial  period,  and  in  the 


ENGLISH  CONTROL  IO3 

Continental  Congress  each  colony  was  an  integer,  with 
an  equal  vote  on  all  questions.  .  .  .  Thus  an  im- 
portance attached  to  the  action  and  influence  of  this 
State  disproportionate  to  the  mere  number  of  its  inhab- 
itants, but  which  has  operated  always  for  the  promotion 
of  the  welfare  of  the  Union.  The  character  of  the  indi- 
viduals chosen  to  represent  the  freemen  of  Delaware  on 
sundry  important  occasions  in  the  history  of  the  forma- 
tion of  our  government,  and  in  the  stormy  time  in  which 
our  institutions  had  their  birth,  has  added  justly  to  the 
reputation  of  the  State  in  the  federal  councils.  .  . 
The  disposition  of  our  citizens  to  select  wise  and  honour- 
able representatives  "  was  due  "  to  the  good  and  sub- 
stantial material  of  which  the  community  was  composed." 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  hailed  here 
with  satisfaction.  A  convention  of  ten  delegates 
from  each  county  met  at  New  Castle  on  August  27, 
1776,    and    agreed    upon    the    government    of    the 

Counties  of  New  Castle,  Kent,  and  Sussex  upon 
Delaware,"  which  formed  the  State. 


CHAPTER   V 

MARYLAND,  SEVENTH   COLONY— THE    FIRST  AMER- 
ICAN   PALATINATE 

THE  forerunners  of  the  Colony  of  Maryland,  who 
give  it  the  seventh  place,  were  Virginia 
traders.  About  the  year  163 1,  they  fixed  stations 
on  the  Patuxent  River  and  elsewhere  in  the  upper 
Chesapeake,  especially  on  Kent  Island,  which  in 
1632  sent  a  burgess  to  the  Assembly  at  Jamestown. 
In  the  same  year,  notwithstanding  the  hostility  of 
the  Virginians  to  the  idea,  Charles  I.  created  a 
palatinate  for  Lord  Baltimore  out  of  the  region  be- 
tween the  Potomac  River  and  the  fortieth  parallel. 
In  honour  of  his  queen,  Henrietta  Maria,  he  named 
it  Terra  Marice,  translated  by  Englishmen  into 
Maryland.  It  included  all  the  territory  of  the  pres- 
ent State,  besides  a  broad  strip  to  the  northward  of 
what  is  now  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  all  of  the  State 
of  Delaware,  and  a  goodly  portion  of  West  Vir- 
ginia. But  greater  than  the  cession  of  these  broad 
acres  were  the  powers  of  the  charter  that  went  with 
them,  copied  by  the  baron  himself  from  the  instru- 
ment which  he  had  drawn  up  for  Avalon  in  New- 

104 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH  COLONY  105 

foundland,  and  which  was  modelled  on  the  ancient 
privileges  of  the  bishops  of  Durham, — "  really," 
says  Mr.  Fiske,  "  the  charter  of  a  hereditary  consti- 
tutional monarchy."  Mr.  William  Hand  Browne,* 
the  historian  of  the  State,  writes  that  "  it  contained 
the  most  ample  rights  and  privileges  ever  conferred 
by  a  sovereign  of  England,"  requiring  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  Crown  to  be  acknowledged  only  by  the 
annual  presentation  of  two  Indian  arrows  at  Windsor 
Castle,  and  a  fifth  of  all  the  gold  and  silver  mined 
there,  which  proved  to  be  none.  Baltimore  was 
authorised  to  plant  a  colony  and  to  grant  the  free- 
men or  their  representatives  the  power  to  make 
their  own  laws;  but  he  was  also  empowered  in  his 
own  right  to  veto  those  laws,  to  create  courts,  ap- 
point judges,  and  pardon  criminals,  while  he  could 
bestow  on  his  colonists  free  trade,  their  own  coin- 
age, their  own  peerage,  and  a  long  list  of  liberties, 
only  **  as  agreeable  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of 
England  as  far  as  conveniently  might  be." 

His  object  was  to  provide  a  refuge  for  Roman 
Catholics,  then  under  penal  disabilities  in  England; 
but  he  offered  protection  also  to  every  Christian 
sect — a  liberality  which  was  denounced  by  the  Eng- 
lish Commons,  and  practically  unknown  elsewhere, 
except  in  the  Netherlands  and  in  some  parts  of  the 
Turkish  Empire. 

Charles  I.  pledged  himself  to  lay  no  taxes  of  any 
kind  upon  the  people  of  this  province,  and  declared 
their  charter  right  to  resist  any  such  demand, 
though  his  sons  ignored  these  pledges.      Excepting 

*  Marvland  :   the  ILisiory  of  a  Palatinate. 


[o6 


THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 


that  of  Avalon,  it  was  the  first  charter  of  its  kind 
for  plantation  in  America,  and  although  nothing 
quite  so  liberal  was  ever  issued  again,  every  colony 
afterwards  founded,"  says  Mr.  Fiske,  "  except  in 
New  England,  was  at  first,  in  theory  at  least,  a  tol- 
erant palatinate,  with  either  a  single  lord  proprietor 
or  a  board  of  proprietors  at  its  head." 

This  was  the  swan-song  of  George  Calvert,  first 
Baron  Baltimore,  the  project  that  made  him  great, 

after  many  years  of 
moderate  usefulness 
in  the  Court  of  James 
I.,  where  he  had  risen 
to  the  office  of  Chief 
Secretary  of  Eng- 
land, and  had  been 
able  to  retire,  on  be- 
coming a  Roman 
Catholic,  without  loss 
of  favour  from  the 
sovereign  he  had 
served,  or  from 
Charles,  when  he 
succeeded  his  father. 
Moreover,  both  faith 
and  favour  passed  to 
his  sons,  when  he  died,  cut  off  in  his  prime,  just  be- 
fore he  took  possession  of  the  new  province.  With- 
out delay,  on  June  20,  1632,  Charles  I.  signed  the 
charter  and  placed  the  hereditary  palatinate  of  Mary- 
land under  Cecilius  Calvert,  second  Baron  Baltimore, 
heir  to  more  than  his  father's  abilities,  as  well  as  to 


GEORGE    CALVERT,    FIRST    LORD 
BALTIMORE. 

Reproduced  from  an  old  Print. 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH  COLONY  lO/ 

his  colonial  dream.  Though  often  attacked  from 
without  and  within, almost  always  violated,  and  once 
held  in  abeyance,  this  charter  was  held  by  five  suc- 
cessive generations  of  the  Calvert  family,  enduring 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  until  Maryland 
became  a  State.  All  the  five  lords  proprietors,  ex- 
cept the  last,  were  wise  and  generously  devoted  to 
the  colony ;  but  the  forces  without  and  within  were 
so  heavily  against  them  that  their  administrations 
were  punctuated  by  many  changes  of  governors  and 
dashed  by  treasonable  plots  and  petty  wars.  For 
forty-three  years  Baltimore  could  never  leave  the 
continual  intrigues  of  Court  and  Parliament  against 
his  undertaking  long  enough  to  set  foot  on  his  Terra 
MaricB.  All  the  adventures  of  plantation  he  yielded 
to  his  younger  brothers,  Leonard, George,  and  Philip 
Calvert,  who  w^ere  as  eager  as  he  to  carry  out  their 
father's  plans.  Within  a  year  after  the  charter  passed 
the  seals,  Leonard,  as  Governor,  crossed  the  winter 
seas  with  the  best-equipped  company  that  England 
had  ever  sent  to  America.  For  thirteen  years,  as 
long  as  he  lived,  Leonard  Calvert  was  a  straight- 
forward, wise,  and  generous  Governor.  His  right- 
hand  men  were  a  council  of  **  worthy  and  able 
gentlemen  adventurers,"  the  good  Jesuit  Father 
Andrew  White,  brave  Captain  Thomas  Cornwaleys, 
Jerome  Hawley ;  and  "  very  near  twenty  other  gen- 
tlemen of  very  good  fashion,  and  two  or  three  hun- 
dred labouring  men  well  provided  in  all  things." 

After  a  week  of  Governor  Harvey's  cordial  enter- 
tainment at  Jamestown,  commanded  by  a  letter 
from  the  King,  the  new  colonists  went  their  way, 


I08  THE  THIRTEEN   COLOXIES 

with  "  cattle,  hogs,  poultry  ;  two  or  three  stocks 
already  grafted  with  apples,  pears,  peaches,  and 
cherries,"  besides  an  extra  pinnace ; — all  of  which 
had  been  most  unwillingly  supplied  by  the  Vir- 
ginians. Calvert  notified  William  Claiborne  that 
on  Kent  and  Palmer  islands,  besides  some  other 
places,  he  was  a  trespasser  against  Baltimore,  who, 
however,  was  ready  to  grant  him  trading  privileges 
and  accept  the  allegiance  of  his  settlers.  This 
Claiborne  refused  to  allow,  and,  with  many  of  the 
leading  Virginians  rallying  round  him,  vainly  de- 
voted his  notable  abilities  for  the  next  twenty  years 
to  the  destruction  of  the  new  province. 

In  the  first  breath  of  the  Chesapeake  spring,  Cal- 
vert found  the  Potomac  an  earthly  Paradise  for  the 
fulfilment  of  his  father's  dreams.  The  charm  felt 
by  all  was  expressed  in  Father  White's  fascinating,* 
if  inaccurate,  Latin  narrative  of  their  adventure. 
He  says: 

"  A  larger  and  more  beautiful  river  I  have  never  seen. 
The  Thames,  compared  with  it,  can  scarce  be  considered 
a  rivulet;  no  undergrowth  chokes  the  beautiful  groves 
on  each  of  its  solid  banks,  so  that  you  might  drive  a 
four-horse  chariot  among  the  trees." 

They  soon  found  waters  and  woods  abounding  in 
game.  Instead  of  such  Indians  as  Claiborne  had 
described,  too  ferocious  for  white  men  to  contend 
with,  the  colony  met  the  friendly  Yaocomicos,  who 
willingly  sold  to  Calvert  their  principal  village,  on 
a  small  branch  of  the  river  Potomac,  near  its  mouth, 
for  some  steel  hatchets,  hoes,  and  cloth,  agreeing  to 

*  Relatio  I  finer  is. 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH  COLONY  IO9 

his  naming  it  St.  Mary's,  and  pronnising  to  remain 
for  a  time  to  teach  the  Englishmen  their  woodcraft, 
their  skill  at  building  wigwams  and  boats,  their 
customs  in  hunting,  fishing,  raising  maize,  and  pre- 
paring pone,  hominy,  and  other  food.  Father 
White  wrote  that  the  pole-built  wigwam  of  the 
Yaocomicos'  chief  was  consecrated  for  the  first 
chapel  in  Maryland.  On  an  island  named  St. 
Clement's  near  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac, — ^  now  a 
sand  bank, —  on  the  day  of  the  Annunciation,  in 
March,  a  cross,  hewn  out  of  a  great  tree,  was  car- 
ried on  the  shoulders  of  the  priests  at  the  head  of  a 
solemn  procession,  and  planted  to  show  that  this 
was  to  be  a  Christian  land ;  the  fathers  chanting  the 
litany  and  the  colonists  kneeling  uncovered.  Those 
of  other  religions  were  free  to  provide  for  their  wor- 
ship, and  probably  lacked  nothing  but  a  chronicler. 
St.  Mary's  never  grew  to  more  than  a  straggling 
village  of  sixty  houses. 

The  good  name  of  the  new  colony  soon  spread 
not  only  among  the  tribes  of  the  neighbourhood, 
but  to  their  over-lords  the  Susquehannocks,  who 
were  a  ferocious  race,  at  the  head  of  the  bay;  and 
they,  hard  driven  by  their  kindred  of  the  Five 
Nations  in  what  was  then  New  Netherland,  were 
glad  to  join  the  newcomers  in  a  league  of  friendship 
and  trade — becoming  "  a  BuUwarke  and  security." 
The  Jesuit  missionaries,  here  as  everywhere,  were 
tireless,  not  only  in  teaching  their  religion  to  the 
savages,  but  in  showing  them  the  simple  arts  of 
civilisation,  nursing  them  in  sickness  and  sharing 
food  with  them  in  famine.     Mr.  Browne  says; 


no  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

"They  went  from  place  to  place  in  a  boat, —  these 
tribes  being  fishing  Indians,  and  living  on  the  creeks  and 
inlets, — and  if,  towards  evening,  they  reached  an  Indian 
village  or  hut,  they  were  joyfully  received;  if  not,  they 
made  fast  the  boat,  the  priest  gathered  wood  and  built  a 
fire,  while  the  others  sought  for  game  of  some  kind  for 
the  evening  meal,  after  which  they  slept  by  their  camp- 
fire  in  perfect  security," 

Within  a  year  of  their  arrival,  all  of  the  freemen 
of  the  colony  met  with  Calvert  and  his  Council  in 
the  largest  wigwam  in  St.  Mary's.  Objecting  to 
the  proprietor's  framing  the  laws,  for  two  years  they 
flourished  without  any  special  enactments,  as  no 
other  young  colony  yet  had  flourished.  The  set- 
tlers, who  rapidly  increased,  took  up  land  about  the 
mouth  of  the  Potomac,  adopting  the  plantation 
life  which  the  Virginians  had  slowly  and  painfully 
discovered  for  the  whole  tide-water  country  of  the 
south.  Rich  and  educated  men  brought  their 
families,  and  five,  ten,  and  twenty-five  servants, 
many  of  good  rank  and  quality,  under  indenture  for 
three  to  five  years'  service  in  return  for  their  pass- 
age-money. When  his  time  was  worked  out,  the 
servant  became  a  freeman  with  a  farm  of  fifty  acres 
if  a  labourer;  of  twice  or  thrice  as  many  if  a  crafts- 
man, for  it  was  necessary  to  encourage  masons, 
bricklayers,  shipwrights,  leather-dressers,  and  others 
to  follow.  With  two  suits  of  clothes,  a  gun,  some 
farming  tools,  and  a  hog  or  two  from  his  former 
master,  he  soon  became  a  prosperous  planter.  For- 
tunate Maryland  had  for  a  long  time  only  desirable 
settlers.      Mr.  Browne  says: 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH  COLONY  III 

**  The  family  was  the  centre  of  all  interest  and  devo- 
tion. As  children  grew  up,  they  helped  to  extend  the 
area  of  cultivation,  or  married  and  settled  on  the  land. 
Poor  relations  were  prized  and  valued  members  of  the 
family,  which  prospered  the  more  it  increased."  A 
penniless  fellow  was  in  fifteen  or  twenty  years  "  a  pros- 
perous country  gentleman,  with  broad  acres  around  him, 
his  sons'  farms  girdling  his  own,  and  his  family  connected 
by  intermarriages  with  his  neighbours  for  miles  around. 
Nowhere  was  the  marriage  bond  held  in  higher  reverence 
than  in  tide-water  Maryland;  and  even  now,  Maryland 
is  the  only  State  in  which  no  marriage  is  legally  valid 
without  some  religious  sanction." 

After  the  first  few  years,  when  settlers  were 
tempted  by  still  greater  offers,  everyone  became  lord 
of  a  manor  who  took  up  a  thousand  acres,  subject  at 
most  to  twenty  shillings  annual  quit-rent,  and  who 
brought  out,  says  Mr.  Fiske,  "  from  England  twenty 
able-bodied  men,  each  armed  with  a  musket,  a 
sword-belt,  a  bandolier  and  flask,  ten  pounds  of 
powder,  and  forty  pounds  of  bullets  and  shot." 
Aristocracy  did  not  go  beyond  this  moderate  point, 
notwithstanding  Baltimore's  elaborate  powers  for  a 
Maryland  peerage.  Each  plantation  growing  to- 
bacco for  trade  soon  became  a  self-supporting  com- 
munity. The  planters  raised  what  food  was  needed 
besides  the  abundance  supplied  by  the  woods  and 
waters  close  at  hand,  and  enjoyed  trade  with  other 
European  countries  besides  England,  to  the  envy  of 
their  neighbours  in  Virginia.  Tobacco  was  the  only 
currency  here  for  about  twenty-five  years.  Mr.  Fiske 
says  that  each  of  these  manors  was 


112  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

**  a  little  world  in  itself  .  .  .  the  great  house 
.  .  .  with  its  generous  dining-hall,  its  panelled  wains- 
coat,  and  its  family  portraits;  there  was  the  chapel, 
with  the  graves  of  the  lord's  family  beneath  the  pave- 
ment and  the  graves  of  common  folk  out  in  the  church- 
yard." There  were  clusters  of  smoke-houses,  cabins, 
and  other  outbuildings,  but  few  negro  cabins  for  many 
years.  Scattered  about  were  the  dwellings  of  the  free- 
hold tenants  surrounded  by  the  fields  they  leased  and 
cultivated.  Every  manor  was  free  to  hold  its  own 
courts  baron  and  courts  leet.  The  court  leet,  like  a 
New  England  town-meeting,  was  open  to  all  freemen  to 
make  their  own  by-laws,  elect  constables,  bailiffs,  and 
other  local  officers,  set  up  stocks  and  pillory,  and  sen- 
tence offenders  to  stand  there.  They  empanelled  their 
own  jury,  and  with  the  steward  of  the  manor  presiding 
as  judge,  visited  with  fine  or  imprisonment  the  thief, 
the  vagrant,  the  poacher,  the  fraudulent  dealer.  "  The 
court  baron  was  an  equally  free  institution  in  which 
all  the  freehold  tenants  sat  as  judges  "  in  all  dis- 
putes over  land  rents,  trespass,  debts,  and  the  like. 
"  These  admirable  manorial  institutions  were  brought  to 
Maryland  in  precisely  the  same  shape  in  which  they  had 
long  existed  in  England." 

Trouble  soon  came  from  Claiborne.  Baltimore 
intended  to  have  the  matter  settled  in  England; 
but  the  secretary-trader  not  only  denied  that  he 
was  a  trespasser,  but  so  persistently  sent  his  vessels 
into  Maryland  waters  that  blood  was  spilled  on  both 
sides  in  the  spring  of  1635,  and  there  was  constant 
friction  for  two  years,  until  Parliament's  new  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  the  Plantations  declared  the 
disputed  islands  to  belong  to  Maryland. 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH  COLONY  1 13 

In  January  of  that  year,  1638,  another  Assembly 
met,  rejected  the  proprietor's  body  of  laws,  and 
voted  that  the  province  should  be  under  the  Com- 
mon Law  of  England. 

"  At  this  moment,"  says  Mr.  Browne,  Thomas  Smith, 
an  officer  of  Claiborne's,  **  was  a  prisoner  in  their  hands 
awaiting  trial  on  a  charge  of  piracy  and  murder,   and 
there  was  no  grand  jury  to  indict  him,  no  court  to  try 
him,  and  no  law  to  try  him  under.     The  knot  was  cut  in 
the  simplest  possible  way.     The  sheriff  impanelled  the 
whole  Assembly  as  a  grand  inquest,  and  they  brought  in 
an  indictment;  the  Assembly  then  resolved  itself  into  a 
high  court  of  justice,  with  Secretary  Lewger  as  Attorney- 
General,  gave  the  prisoner  liberty  of  challenge,  heard  the 
evidence  on  both  sides,  and  found  him  guilty;     ... 
and  the  Governor,  as  president  of  the  court,  pronounced 
sentence  of  death.     A  bill  confirming  the  sentence  was 
read  thrice  and  passed,  and  the  prisoner  was  executed. 
The   House  then  resolved  itself  into  a  coroner's  jury, 
and  inquired  into  the  deaths  of  the  persons  killed  in  the 
Pocomoke    affair."       This    remarkable    Assembly    was 
almost  to  a  man  without  experience  in  law-making  or 
government,  yet  they  solved  "  the  difficulties  before  them 
in  a  way  at  once  legal  and  perfectly  effective,  shaping 
their  whole  organisation  and  action  in  conformity  with  a 
clear  ideal  of  what  such  a  body  should  be  and  do." 

Their  proprietor,  statesman  as  he  was,  saw  that 
they  could  be  trusted  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the 
colony,  and  authorised  Calvert  to  approve  their  laws 
in  his  name,  reserving  his  right  of  veto.  So,  within 
four  years  after  the  settlement,  the  principles  and 
the  fact  of  self-government  were  quietly  and  firmly 


114  ^'^^^    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

planted.  The  next  year  the  government  was  put 
into  permanent  form.  Representatives,  called  bur- 
gesses as  in  Virginia,  sitting  with  the  Governor  and 
Council  (made  up  of  the  Secretary,  Surveyor- 
General,  and  other  leading  officers),  constituted  the 
House  of  Assembly,  which,  unless  specially  sum- 
moned, met  once  in  three  years  at  St.  Mary's. 
The  Governor  received  his  salary  from  the  proprie- 
tor, while  other  officers  were  paid  by  fees  regulated 
by  the  Assembly.  The  burgesses  went  to  St. 
Mary's  in  canoes  or  the  light  "  pungies,"  the  craft 
of  the  Chesapeake.  The  bays  and  rivers  were  the 
great  highways.  There  were  no  carriages.  Roads 
were  always  scarce  in  the  province,  but  bridle-paths 
soon  were  beaten,  and  a  stock  of  "  wiry  little 
horses  "  were  bred  "  wild  in  the  woods  and 
swamps. 

One  of  the  next  records  is  that  the  colonists,  be- 
ing prospered  and  desiring  "  to  return  some  testi- 
mony of  gratitude  "  to  Lord  Baltimore,  voted  him 

such  subsidy  as  the  young  and  poor  estate  of  the 
colony  could  bear."  In  these  early  years  there 
seems  to  have  been  free  play  of  gratitude  and  other 
rare  virtues.  It  was  an  idyllic  moment,  on  which  it 
is  pleasant  to  dwell,  before  the  appearance  of  the 
all-devouring  monster  of  self-righteous  Puritanism. 

The  Indians  showed  their  gratitude  also  for  the 
good  works  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries  by  large  pre- 
sents of  land,  which  the  Fathers  received,  of  course, 
as  presents  to  the  Order,  subject  only  to  canon  law. 
But  this  Baltimore  would  not  allow.  He  was  a  good 
Catholic,  but  a  just  proprietor.      He  declared  that 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH   COLONY  II5 

no  land  should  be  held  in  mortmain,  and  issued  a 
new  Condition  of  Plantations,  dated  1641,  which 
provided  that  no  land  should  be  granted  to  or  held 
by  any  corporation  or  society,  ecclesiastical  or  temp- 
oral, without  a  special  licence  from  the  proprietor. 
The  Jesuits  reluctantly  released  their  land  and  ac- 
cepted the  Condition,  in  order  to  remain  and  see  the 
fruits  of  their  labours.  To  this  day,  Maryland  is 
the  one  State  of  the  Union  in  which  no  land  can  be 
"  sold,  given,  or  devised  to  a  religious  body,  or  for 
a  religious  use,"  excepting  by  the  consent  of  the 
Legislature  ;  and  whose  representatives  cannot  in- 
clude and  never  have  included  any  clergy. 

The  first  of  the  petty  wars  broke  out  in  1644. 
During  Governor  Calvert's  absence  for  the  purpose 
of  aiding  his  brother  in  making  clear  the  colony's 
loyalty  to  the  new  Puritan  Parliament  and  Parlia- 
ment's satisfaction  with  the  colony,  a  braggart 
Puritan  sea-captain,  Richard  Ingle,  while  in  the 
Potomac,  took  the  King's  name  in  vain.  Calvert's 
deputies  seized  him  for  treason,  but  let  him  go. 
The  Governor  had  scarcely  returned  when  he  put  in 
an  appearance  again.  With  Claiborne  aiding  him 
by  taking  Kent  Island,  he  marched  into  St.  Mary's, 
overpowered  the  government,  seized  the  records, 
stole  the  seal  for  the  silver, sent  Father  White  and  the 
other  missionaries  in  chains  to  England  (where  they 
were  promptly  released),  and  forced  Calvert  and  his 
small  but  devoted  following  to  flee  to  Virginia.  For 
two  years,  known  as  the  "  plundering  time,"  Ingle 
and  his  men  pillaged  the  plantations,  stripping  mills 
of  machinery  and  houses  of  furniture  to  sell  them 


no  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

in  England.  In  concert  with  Claiborne,  he  set  up 
what  he  called  a  government,  imposing  an  oath  of 
allegiance.  He  made  much  of  the  Protestant  colon- 
ists, especially  the  Puritans,  until  the  better  sort 
of  them,  strongly  convinced  as  they  were  of  the 
divine  right  of  Puritans  to  overthrow  any  other  re- 
ligion, joined  the  Catholics  in  welcoming  back  the 
Governor  and  a  force  composed  of  his  escort  and 
some  neighbourly  Virginians.  To  pay  this  little 
army,  Calvert  pledged  his  own  and  Baltimore's 
estates.  In  April,  1647,  they  took  St.  Mary's  by 
surprise,  and  soon  after  were  in  complete  possession 
of  the  colony.  Claiborne  was  driven  out,  though 
not  subdued,  and  pardon  was  granted  to  all  who 
took  the  oath  of  fidelity  except  Ingle  and  his  chief 
rogue,  one  Durford.      But  the  next  few  months  of 

wise  clemency  "  were  the  last  of  this  excellent 
Governor's  life. 

Calvert  died  in  June,  1647,  directing  his  able  kins- 
woman. Mistress  Margaret  Brent,  to  "  take  all  and 
pay  all."  His  personal  estate  amounted  to  but 
i^ 1 10  sterling.  His  thirteen  years  in  America  had 
been  occupied,  not  for  his  own  profit,  but  in  estab- 
lishing the  most  enlightened  and  rapidly  successful 
colony  of  his  time,  already  ranking  with  the  best  on 
the  coast.  On  the  loss  of  this  devoted  fellow-worker 
the  overburdened  brother  in  England  redoubled  his 
devotion.  He  gave  the  colonists  a  new  seal,  in- 
creased their  power  at  the  expense  of  his  own,  and 
granted  the  burgesses  or  delegates,  as  they  had  be- 
gun to  call  themselves,  the  right  to  sit  separately 
and  act  as  a  provincial  parliament;  upon  which  the 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH  COLONY 


17 


Lower  House  formally  recorded  his  rights  and  the 
benefits  he  had  secured  to  the  province,  "  as  a  me- 
morial to  all  posterity  of  their  thankfulness,  faith- 
fulness, and  obedience." 

But,  says  Mr.  Browne,  in  the  whole  group  whom 
Calvert  left  behind  him,  the  ablest  character  was 
Mistress  Brent,  ''  the  only  woman  whose  figure 
stands  out  clear"  in  the  history  of  this  colony. 
She  and  her  sister  Mary  had  come  out  nearly  ten 
years  before,  bringing  men  and  women.  They  had 
taken  up  manors,  imported  more  settlers,  and  man- 
aged their  affairs  with  masculine  ability.  As  Leonard 
Calvert's  "  administrator,"  she 

"  was  looked  uppon  and  received  as  his  Lps.  Attorney," 
wherefore  she  "  requested  to  have  vote  in  the  bowse  for 
her  selfe  and  voyce  allso.  ...  The  Govr.  denyed 
that  the  sd.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Brent  should  have  any  vote 
in  the  howse.  And  the  sd.  Mrs.  Brent  protested  against 
all  proceedings  in  this  present  Assembly  unlesse  shee 
may  be  present  and  have  vote  as  aforesd." 

When  the  little  army  that  Calvert  had  led  against 
Ingle  and  Claiborne  grew  clamorous  for  their  money, 
Mistress  Brent,  commanding  "  a  respect  that  they 
would  have  shown  to  none  other,"  quieted  them  un- 
til she  could  pay  them  with  some  of  the  proprietor's 
cattle.  His  lordship  took  exception  to  this;  but 
the  Assembly  told  him  that  but  for  her  "  all  would 
have  gone  to  ruin." 

Ruin  threatened  from  other  quarters.  Within  a 
year  after  Calvert's  death,  Baltimore  saw  the  neces- 
sity of  displacing  his  brother's  successor,  Thomas 


Il8  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

Greene,  a  Catholic,  by  the  good  Protestant,  William 
Scone,  formerly  a  sheriff  of  Virginia  and  a  known 
admirer  of  the  Long  Parliament.  He  held  office 
for  six  most  trying  years.  On  the  other  hand, 
Charles  II.,  then  an  uncrowned  fugitive,  took 
offence,  and  presented  the  palatinate  to  Sir  William 
Davenant,  the  pretended  son  of  Shakespeare. 
Happily  some  Parliamentary  officers  seized  the  half- 
crazy  poet-laureate  as  he  was  starting  for  his  suddenly 
acquired  possessions,  and  no  harm  was  done  before 
the  Prince  found  that  his  suspicions  of  Baltimore's 
loyalty  were  groundless. 

That  same  year  the  Assembly  of  Maryland  passed 
what  is  commonly  called  the  Toleration  Act  of  1649, 
exactly  as  drawn  by  the  proprietor.      By  it, 

"  any  reproachfull  speeches  .  .  .  concerning  the 
.  .  .  Holy  Trinity  "  were  punishable  "  with  death, 
and  confiscation  ...  of  .  .  .  lands  and  goods 
to  the  Lord  Proprietor  and  his  heires,"  and  fines  were 
fixed  for  "  reproachfull  words  "  against  the  religion  of 
any  Christian  or  Christian  sect;  to  the  end  that  no  per- 
son "  shall  bee  any  waies  troubled,  molested,  or  dis- 
countenanced for  or  in  respect  of  his  or  her  religion." 

Intolerant  as  this  was  of  all  who  were  not  Christ- 
ians, it  was  remarkable  liberality  for  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century. 

The  first  people  to  seek  the  protection  of  this  act 
were  the  Puritans  driven  out  of  Virginia.  Although 
they  were  bitterly  prejudiced  against  Baltimore  as  a 
Catholic  and  a  provincial  proprietor,  they  knew  that 
this  was  the  best  of  all  the  colonies  to  live  in,  and 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH   COLONY 


119 


hoped  that  the  government  would  soon  be  destroyed 
by  Parliament.  In  the  memorable  year  of  1649, 
about  one  thou- 
sand of  them,  near- 
ly all  in  families, 
cleared  the  forests 
and  planted  what 
they  called  Provi- 
dence,—  which  af- 
terwards became 
Annapolis,  —  near 
the  Chesapeake  at 
the  broad  mouth 
of  a  r  i,v  e  r  they 
named  for  the  Sev- 
ern, **  at  home." 
The  government 
erected  their  set- 
tlements into  a 
county  named  for 
Lord  Baltimore's 
wife,  who  had  been 

the  Lady  Anne  Arundel,  and  "  whose  portrait  by 
Van  Dyck,  preserved  in  Wardour  Castle,  shows  her 
to  have  been  one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  of  her 
time."  The  Puritans  intended  to  manage  their 
plantations  independently  of  the  province;  they  re- 
fused for  some  time  to  send  their  delegates  to  the 
Assembly,  and  when  obliged  to  do  so,  immediately 
started  factions,  some  to  overthrow  the  proprietor's 
government  for  one  of  their  own ;  some  to  make 
common  cause  with  the  grievance-nursing  Virginians 


CECILIUS    CALVERT,    SECONt)    LORD 
BALTIMORE. 
Reproduced  from  an  old  Print. 


I20  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

to  annex  Maryland  to  the  Old  Dominion ;  some, 
says  Mr.  Browne,  even  *'  sent  a  declaration  to  Par- 
liament that  Maryland  was  nothing  but  a  nursery  of 
Jesuits,  and  that  the  poor  Protestants  were  every- 
where suppressed."  With  the  fact  that  they  had 
found  refuge  there  when  driven  from  Virginia  for 
his  answer,  Baltimore  satisfied  the  Parliamentary 
committee,  who  renewed  his  charter,  refused  to  an- 
nex Maryland  to  Virginia,  and  twice  struck  its  name 
out  when  Claiborne,  on  the  Parliamentary  commis- 
sion to  reduce  the  "  notorious  rebels  "  of  Virginia, 
forced  the  coveted  province  into  his  orders.  But  he 
succeeded  in  inserting  "  all  the  plantations  within 
the  Bay  of  the  Chesapeake,"  set  sail  with  his  col- 
leafjues  before  the  mischief  was  discovered,  and  was 
at  St.  Mary's  early  in  1652,  where,  to  the  joy  of  the 
Puritans,  he  bound  Stone's  government  hand  and 
foot.  After  two  years,  he  and  Governor  Bennett 
of  Virginia  set  up  at  Providence  a  regular  Puritan 
government,  with  Captain  William  Fuller  as  presid- 
ent;  passing  an  "Act  of  Toleration  "  for  their  own 
beliefs,  but  shutting  out  "  popery,  prelacy,  or  licen- 
tiousness of  opinion."  Then,  "  for  religion  and 
liberty  "  they  fell  upon  the  Catholics  on  the  one 
hand,  and  on  the  other  declared  that  everyone  who 
had  come  into  the  province  at  his  own  coct  should 
take  up  land  exactly  as  he  pleased.  Baltimore,  up- 
held by  Cromwell,  wrote  to  Stone  to  put  down  the 
rebellion.  Stone  attempted  to  surprise  Providence 
with  one  hundred  and  thirty  staunch  men,  flying 
their  lord's  colours  —  the  brilliant  black  and  gold, 
from  which  the  Baltimore  oriole  was  named.      But 


AIAKYLAyV,  SEVENTH  COLONY  121 

they  were  themselves  surprised  and  overwhelmed 
by  Fuller  and  a  band  of  almost  twice  their  number, 
aided  by  the  fire  of  two  Puritan  merchant  vessels  in 
the  river.  This  was  Maryland's  famous  battle  of 
the  Severn,  fought  on  March  25,  1655.  One  third 
of  Stone's  men  lay  dead  or  wounded  on  the  field ; 
their  "  Papist  beads"  scattered  broadcast,  as  was 
gleefully  recorded  by  one  of  their  enemies.  Stone 
was  "  shot  in  many  places."  A  letter  written  the 
next  year  says : 

"  The  Governor  and  others  surrendered  on  the  assur- 
ance of  their  lives;  but  these  conditions  were  treacher- 
ously violated,  and  four  of  the  prisoners  were  shot." 
The  Virginians,  as  the  insurgents  were  usually  called, 
"  rushed  into  our  houses  and  demanded  that  the  impos- 
tors, as  they  called  them,  should  be  given  up  to  slaughter. 
By  God's  mercy  the  Fathers  escaped,  but  their  books 
and  other  property  were  seized.  With  the  utmost  hazard 
they  escaped  into  Virginia,  where  they  still  are,  sorely 
straitened,  and  barely  able  to  sustain  life;  living  in  a 
little  low  hut,  like  a  cistern  or  a  tomb." 

Baltimore  then  sent  out  his  brother,  Philip  Cal- 
vert, as  Secretary  of  the  province,  and  Captain  Josias 
Fendall  as  Governor.  But  President  Fuller  snapped 
his  fingers  at  both  of  them,  arresting  Fendall  "  for 
hisdangerousness,"  while  Puritans  in  England  tried 
to  induce  Cromwell  to  annul  the  charter,  and  still 
others  from  Virginia  again  asked  for  annexation. 
But  the  Lord  Protector  leaned  to  Baltimore's  side. 
The  Virginians,  hastening  to  trim  accordingly,  with 
"  friendly  endeavours  "  aided  in  the  confirmation  of 


122  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

Baltimore's  rights.  That  was  in  March,  1658,  six 
months  before  the  powerful  Oliver  died. 

During  all  this  time  Baltimore  seems  to  have  made 
no  effort  to  colonise  the  Delaware  shore,  or  to  have 
asserted  any  claim  over  the  Swedes.  After  the 
Dutch  conquered  them  in  1655,  he  made  a  move- 
ment in  that  direction,  but  a  feeble  one;  for  with 
all  its  petty  wars  IMaryland  had  no  army.  Orders 
went  out  at  once  requiring  all  able-bodied  men  be- 
tween sixteen  and  sixty  years  of  age  to  train  regu- 
larly. On  that,  another  despised  sect  clamoured  for 
toleration  to  their  way  of  thinking  only  —  the 
Quakers  who  had  found  refuge  here.  But  the 
Assembly  promptly  declared  that  all  Quaker  ''  vaga- 
bonds and  idlers  "  should  leave  the  province  and 
not  return  on  pain  of  being  whipped  out  from  con- 
stable to  constable.  This  order  never  was  enforced, 
apparently,  and  was  soon  dropped  from  the  statutes; 
but  training  days  went  merrily  on. 

The  Puritans  who  had  to  yield,  after  contesting 
his  lordship's  government  for  nine  years,  turned  at 
once  to  plotting  with  the  Governor,  soon  voted  him 
"  President  "  of  the  Lower  House,  "  the  lawful  As- 
sembly, without  proprietor  or  governor  and  coun- 
cil " ;  and  addressed  themselves  with  loyalty  to  the 
new  king;  for  this  was  on  the  eve  of  Charles  II. 's 
restoration.  But  again  they  missed  their  aim.  The 
King  confirmed  all  of  Baltimore's  rights,  ordering 
colonists  to  abide  by  them  or  leave  the  province. 

Ever  since  the  charter  was  granted  "  every  engine 
had  been  brought  to  bear  against  Baltimore,"  says 
Mr.   Browne:  "fraud,   misrepresentation,    religious 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH  COLONY  1 23 

animosities,  and  force;  and  each  for  a  time  had 
succeeded."  Yet  he  triumphed  at  last  by  **  the 
justice  of  his  cause,  and  his  wisdom,  constancy,  and 
patience." 

The  government,  when  set  up  again  by  Governor 
Phih'p  Calvert,  with  gentleness  toward  traitors  and 
great  generosity  toward  the  faithful,  remained  un- 
disturbed for  twenty-seven  years.  The  proprietor 
soon  sent  out  his  only  son,  the  kind,  just,  and  in- 
telligent Charles  Calvert,  to  be  Governor,  making 
his  brother  Philip  Deputy-Lieutenant  and  Chancel- 
lor. The  colonists,  with  some  appreciation,  enjoyed 
fourteen  years  under  this  remarkable  combination 
of  authority  devoted  to  their  interests,  although  so 
many  other  offices  also  were  filled  by  relatives  that 
objections  often  were  heard  against  "  the  family 
party." 

About  the  only  result  of  the  attempt  to  take  the 
Delaware  land  from  the  Dutch,  renewed  under 
Governor  Charles,  was  connected  with  Augustine 
Herman,  a  native  of  Prague  and  a  surveyor,  who 
was  sent  out  by  Stuyvesant  to  act  as  commissioner 
for  the  Dutch.  But  he  fell  in  love  with  Maryland, 
and  made  an  excellent  map  of  it  in  exchange  for  a 
large  tract  on  the  Elk  River,  which  had  charmed 
him  on  his  journey  from  New  Amstel.  To  enable 
him  to  receive  this  estate,  which  was  named  Bo- 
hemia Manor  and  which  was  gradually  increased  to 
more  than  twenty  thousand  acres,  the  Assembly 
granted  him  (in  1666)  the  first  letters  of  naturalisa- 
tion in  the  province,  some  say  in  America. 

Both  manors  and  small  plantations  were  now  in- 


124  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

creased  by  people  from  France,  Germany,  Holland, 
Sweden,  Finland,  and  Bohemia.  In  the  one  serious 
trouble,  the  persistent  over-production  of  tobacco, 
Baltimore  had  a  resource  to  relieve  the  inconvenience 
in  the  matter  of  the  currency  which  the  Virginians 
had  not  —  his  right  to  coin  money.  He  sent  speci- 
men dies  for  a  shilling,  a  sixpence,  and  a  groat,  say- 
ing, "  It  must  not  be  imposed  upon  the  people  but 
by  a  law  made  by  their  consent."  But  it  was  wel- 
come. The  Assembly  required  **  every  householder 
to  take  ten  shillings  for  every  taxable  in  his  family, 
paying  in  tobacco  at  twopence  per  pound,"  and  fixed 
the  intrinsic  value  at  about  ninepence  for  the  shil- 
ling, seventy-five  per  cent,  of  its  nominal  value. 
Baltimore  generously  agreed  to  receive  his  revenues 
in  the  same  currency. 

Tobacco  troubles  went  on,  however.  The  em- 
barrassments of  over-production  and  competition 
were  increased  by  the  closing  of  the  ports  of  Hol- 
land during  the  Dutch  war,  by  the  plague  in  London, 
which  kept  English  ships  away  from  the  province, 
and  by  the  determination  of  Charles  II.  that,  in 
spite  of  any  rash  promises  his  royal  father  and 
grandfather  might  have  made,  charter  or  no  charter, 
he  would  enforce  the  Navigation  Laws  on  Maryland 
as  well  as  on  the  other  colonies.  The  charter  was 
coolly  ignored  also  by  both  the  royal  brothers  in 
one  encroachment  after  another  upon  the  bound- 
aries, beginning  in  1664  with  the  King's  grant  to 
the  Duke  of  York  of  the  country  held  by  the  Dutch. 
This  was  more  than  matched  six  years  later  by  the 
adjustment   of   the  Virginia   boundary   by   Colonel 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH  COLONY  1 25 

Edmund  Scarborough,  who,  in  running  a  line  from 
Watkins's  Point  east  to  the  ocean,  so  slanted  it  as 
to  give  Virginia  twenty-three  square  miles  out  of 
Baltimore's  grant;  while  on  the  west,  ignorance  of 

the  most  distant  fountain  of  the  Potomac  "  gave 
Lord  Fairfax,  the  heir  of  the  great  Culpeper  grant, 
room  to  claim  that  this  territory  extended  to  the 
north  branch  of  that  river;  and  bitter  quarrels 
among  principals  and  settlers  lasted  until  1852, 
when  the  State  of  Maryland  conceded  to  Virginia 
half  a  million  acres  of  the  most  fertile  lands  in  Lord 
Baltimore's  grant.  Still  greater  slices  were  taken 
off  on  the  north  and  east.  But  before  that  was 
done  much  else  happened. 

Li  1675,  after  forty-three  years  of  consummate 
care,  the  founder  died,  leaving  Maryland  with 
twenty-five  thousand  people,  the  third  largest  col- 
ony, although  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  were  far 
ahead.  Charles  Calvert,  after  proving  himself  one 
of  the  most  admirable  governors  in  the  colonies  for 
fourteen  years,  became  third  Baron  Baltimore  and 
second  proprietor  of  Maryland,  to  be  committed  for 
another  sixteen  years  to  a  cruelly  unequal  fight  with 
the  enemies  of  his  government  and  his  land-holdings 
— at  Court,  in  New  York,  in  Virginia,  and  not  least 
in  Maryland  itself.  The  colonists  smuggled  and 
quarrelled  with  the  King's  revenue  collectors,  two 
of  whom  were  killed,  though  largely  through  their 
own  folly.  Petty  Indian  troubles  seem  to  have  been 
fanned  by  unfriendly  white  neighbours;  and  the  old 
culprit,  Josias  Fendall,  was  found  plotting  to  over- 
throw the  government,  for  which  he  was  banished, 


126  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

while  one  of  his  confederates,  a  renegade  parson, 
John  Coode,  was  allowed  to  go  free.  Sometimes 
a  governor  was  in  charge,  sometimes  a  board  of 
deputy-governors,  while  Baltimore  was  in  England 
hearing  and  answering  the  Protestants'  false  charges 
of  persecution  and  of  partiality  in  the  administra- 
tion. The  excitement  produced  by  the  Popish  Plot 
compelled  him  to  fill  all  the  offices  in  the  province 
with    Protestants;    and   even  then   it   was   called   a 

pesthouse  of  iniquity,"  and  he  barely  prevented 
the  establishment  of  the  Church  of  England. 

As  yet  it  seems  that  but  four  Anglican  clergymen 
had  livings  there ;  others  were  on  the  precarious  sup- 
port of  voluntary  contribution.  Neither  Anglicans 
nor  Catholics  were  many,  most  of  the  people  clinging 
to  some  form  of  Dissent.  In  1682  another  blow  fell, 
when  the  Duke  of  York  ceded  the  west  shore  of  the 
Delaware  to  William  Penn.  After  the  Duke  had 
become  James  IL,  the  Privy  Council  reported  that 
the  peninsula  between  the  Chesapeake  and  the 
Delaware  should  be  divided  by  a  meridian  line  run- 
ning north  from  the  latitude  of  Cape  Henlopen,  the 
choice  falling  upon  the  "  False  Cape,"  twenty  miles 
below. 

Although  James  II.  was  a  sovereign  of  the  pro- 
prietor's own  faith,  he  made  no  exception  of  Mary- 
land in  his  prompt  measures  to  press  more  taxes  out 
of  the  American  Plantations.  Baltimore  pleaded 
his  charter  and  the  irreproachable  administrations  of 
his  family,  only  to  have  the  last  Stuart  king  begin 
the  quo  warranto  proceedings  against  the  charter  of 
his   namesake,    the    first    proprietor,    and    of    "  the 


MARYLAND,  SEVENTH  COLONY  12^ 

murdered  father  "  he  lamented.  While  the  Revo- 
lution of  1688  drove  out  James  and  placed  William 
and  Mary  on  the  throne,  poor  Baltimore  had  a  revo- 
lution of  his  own.  The  renegade  parson  and  par- 
doned plotter  Coode,  as  a  captain  in  the  militia,  led 
forth  seven  hundred  armed  men  as  ''  An  Association 
in  arms  for  the  defence  of  the  Protestant  Relig-ion 
and  for  asserting  the  right  of  King  William  and 
Queen  Mary  to  the  Province  of  Maryland  and  all 
the  English  Dominions."  This  "  army  "  and  its 
"  general,"  as  Coode  was  styled,  seized  St.  Mary's, 
and  published  a  jumble  of  incendiary  '*  reasons  " 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  proprietor  in  a  paper  struck 
off  by  Nothead,  the  printer  of  the  province  —  said 
to  be  the  earliest  known  document  with  a  Maryland 
imprint.  They  frightened  the  Commission  of 
Deputy-Governors  into  fleeing  for  refuge  to  a  fort 
at  Mattapany,  on  the  Patuxent,  where  he  took  them 
by  siege.  Then,  declaring  his  Association  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  province,  Coode  sent  word  to  Eng- 
land that  the  Protestant  inhabitants  of  Maryland, 
under  arms,  had  secured  the  province  to  his  Majesty 
and  the  Protestant  religion.  William  sent  his  ap- 
proval of  the  Association's  acts;  and  after  letting 
them  carry  full  sail  for  a  while,  in  1691,  taking  his 
own  way,  irregularly  and  illegally,  he  declared 
Maryland  under  Crown  government.  The  Asso- 
ciators'  Assembly  wanted  the  proprietor  shorn  of 
everything;  but  the  King  confirmed  his  property 
rights,  "  his  quit-rents,  his  ownership  of  vacant 
lands,  his  port  duty  of  fourteen  pence  per  ton  on 
all  foreign  vessels  trading  to  the  province,  and  his 


128  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

one-half  of  the  tobacco  duty  of  two  shillings  per  hogs- 
head "  ;  reducing  the  independent  Lord  Proprie- 
tor to  a  trader  and  landlord  and  shattering  the  one 
strong,  broad,  tolerant  government  then  in  Amer- 
ica, wherein,  for  fifty-seven  years,  "  all  believers 
in  Christ  had  been  equal  before  the  law,  all  support 
of  churches  and  ministers  voluntary,"  and  the 
colonists  the  most  privileged  Englishmen  on  either 
side  of  the  sea. 


^^^^^fe 

CHAPTER    VI 

THE   TRIUMPH    OF   PROTESTANT    INTOLERANCE 

FOR  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  from  1691  till 
171 5,  while  the  Baltimore  charter  was  held  in 
abeyance,  the  government  was  under  William  III., 
"  whose  little  finger  was  thicker  than  the  loins  of 
the  proprietor,"  and  under  his  more  gentle  sister- 
in-law,  Queen  Anne.  The  first  royal  Governor  was 
Sir  Lionel  Copley,  who  died  in  about  a  year.  He 
called  an  Assembly  which  thanked  their  august 
sovereigns  for  delivering  them  from  "  a  tyrannical 
popish  government  under  which  they  had  long 
groaned,"  and  by  an  act,  as  bitter  to  the  Puritans 
as  to  the  Catholics,  divided  the  ten  counties  into 
parishes  and  laid  on  every  taxable,  rich  and  poor, 
an  annual  levy  of  forty  pounds  of  tobacco  per  poll 
for  the  buildings  and  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of 
England.  Although  the  act  was  never  confirmed 
in  England,  it  was  maintained  after  a  fashion. 
Maryland  was  under  Protestant  intolerance  for  the 
rest  of  her  provincial  life;  the  "  forty  per  poll" 
continually  ringing  in  the  ears  of  her  people.  As 
the  quality  of  the  tobacco  was  not  specified,  most 

VOL.  II. — 9.  I2q 


130  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

of  them  obtained  some  revenge  by  pa37ing  the  tax 
in  such  unsalable  refuse  that  English  clergy  soon 
learned  that  a  "being"  in  Maryland  meant  the 
hardest  of  human  yokes,  unpopularity  combined 
with  poverty.  Only  the  scum  of  the  Church  came, 
some  evil  enough  to  eke  out  their  incomes,  for  in- 
stance, by  stopping  in  the  midst  of  a  marriage  serv- 
ice to  extort  a  big  fee  before  pronouncing  the 
couple  man  and  wife. 

After  a  short,  violent  term  under  Sir  Edmund 
Andros,  Francis  Nicholson  brought  order  out  of 
chaos  in  four  years  between  his  two  terms  in  Vir- 
ginia. He  removed  the  capital  from  St.  Mary's, 
"  the  social  and  political  centre  of  Catholicism,"  to 
the  Puritans'  Providence  on  the  Severn,  then  com- 
monly called  Anne  Arundel  Town,  but  renamed 
Annapolis,  which  could  be  construed  as  an  honour 
either  to  the  proprietor's  mother  or  to  the  Queen's 
sister  and  successor.  There  Nicholson  founded 
King  William  School,  in  1696,  securing  an  export 
duty  on  the  fur-trade  of  the  province  for  this  and 
other  schools,  chiefly  that  the  province  might  rear 
its  own  clergymen.  A  powerful  fellow-w^orker  for 
the  Church  was  Dr.  Thomas  Bray,  Commissary  of 
Maryland  under  the  Bishop  of  London.  He  was, 
says  Mr.  Browne,  "  a  man  with  something  of  the 
apostolic  character,  who  .  .  .  devoted  nearly 
all  his  fortune,  as  well  as  his  personal  labours,  to 
building  up  the  Church." 

When  King  William's  wars  touched  the  Mary- 
landers'  pockets  they  were  the  only  Southern  colony 
to   contribute   toward   the   defence  of  Albany,   but 


TRIUMPH   OF  PROTESTANT  INTOLERANCE      131 

they  raised  excuses  for  every  other  demand,  in 
spite  of  all  that  Nicholson  could  do.  His  work  in 
the  colonies  was  crippled  by  a  low  story  against  his 
private  character,  started  no  doubt  by  the  renegade 
Coode,  in  revenge  because  the  Governor  had  caught 
him  misusing  funds  he  had  raised  to  build  a  church, 
had  censured  his  "  notorious  and  flagitious  life  and 
conversation,"  and   publicly  caned   him   for  being 


OLD   STATE  HOUSE   AT   ANNAPOLIS. 

From  Ridgley's  A  nnals  of  A  nnafiolis. 

drunk  and  disorderly  during  divine  service.  The 
rascal  boasted  that  he  ''  had  pulled  down  one  gov- 
ernment and  could  pull  down  another  "  ;  but  he  ran 
for  his  life  to  escape  indictments  of  the  grand  jury, 
and  did  not  figure  again  in  Maryland  until  after 
Nicholson  was  gone. 

During  the  colourless  four  years'  term  of  the  next 
Governor,  amiable  Nathaniel  Blackiston,  a  Tolera- 


132  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

tion  Act  was  passed  for  Quakers  and  other  Dis- 
senters, allowing  them  to  retain  their  faith  so  long 
as  they  turned  in  their  full  weight  of  "  forty  per 
poll  "  for  the  parish  churches.  In  the  first  part  of 
Queen  Anne's  reign,  when  John  Seymour  was  Gov- 
ernor, the  province  was  so  progressive  that  eight 
times  in  the  year  letters  were  forwarded  from  the 
Potomac  to  Philadelphia.  Tobacco  was  still  the 
staple,  but  so  much  hemp  and  flax  were  raised  that 
both  were  used  sometimes,  as  tobacco  was,  for 
currency. 

"  In  1706  .  .  .  the  manufacture  of  linen  and  even 
woollen  cloth  was  attempted.  .  .  .  Maryland  sur- 
passed every  other  province  in  the  number  of  its  white 
servants.  The  market  was  always  supplied  with  them, 
and  the  price  varied  from  £^\2  to  ;^3o.  .  .  .  The 
number  of  bond  and  free  must  have  exceeded  thirty 
thousand;  yet  a  bounty  for  every  wolf's  head  continued 
to  be  offered;  the  roads  to  the  capital  were  marked  by 
notches  on  the  trees;  and  watermills  still  solicited  legis- 
lative encouragement." 

During  the  Queen's  war  the  French  annoyed  the 
frontier  somewhat  with  their  **  naked  "  Indians, 
while  their  cruisers  despoiled  plantations  on  the  Bay 
and  threatened  Annapolis.  Privateers,  and  Captain 
Kidd  and  other  pirates,  infested  the  coast.  But  the 
greatest  evils  were  the  false  accusations  raised  against 
the  few  Roman  Catholic  colonists  that  they  were 
aiding  the  P^rench.     Mr.  Browne  says: 

"  Certainly  a  government  that  treated  them  as  aliens 


TRIUMPH   OF  PROTESTANT  INTOLERANCE      1 33 

and  probable  traitors  had  small  claim  to  their  allegiance; 
but  as  a  matter  of  fact  there  is  no  evidence  that  there  was 
the  least  disloyalty  to  England  among  them.  Yet  fine 
and  imprisonment  "  was  laid  on  a  priest  who  exercised 
"  any  priestly  function;  and  any  member  of  the  Church 
of  Rome  who  should  teach  or  even  board  young  persons, 
was  to  be  sent  to  England  for  prosecution.  Children  of 
Catholics  were  encouraged  to  forsake  their  parents'  re- 
ligion. A  duty  of  twenty  shillings  per  poll  was  laid  on 
all  Irish  Papists  brought  into  the  Province."  Lawyers 
of  that  faith  were  forbidden  to  practise. 

But,  as  Mr.  Fiske  says,  '*  oppressive  statutes  did 
not  prevent  them  from  increasing  in  numbers  and 
the  influence  which  ability  and  character  always 
wield.  They  were  pre-eminently  the  picked  men  of 
the  colony." 

The  old  proprietor,  too,  was  persecuted  to  re- 
nounce his  faith.  Neither  threats  nor  inducements 
tempted  him;  but  he  saw  his  only  son,  Benedict 
Leonard  Calvert,  yield  for  himself  and  his  children, 
accepting  the  reward  of  a  pension  from  the  Queen 
and  the  privilege  of  naming  John  Hart  as  the  Gov- 
ernor some  time  after  Seymour's  death.  The  staunch 
old  Catholic  died  in  February,  17 14,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-five,  soon  after  the  Queen.  His  Protestant 
son  lived  only  six  weeks  as  the  fourth  Baron  and 
third  proprietor ;  but  he  secured  the  favour  of  the  new 
King,  George  L,  for  his  son  Charles,  who,  though 
still  a  boy,  was  invested  with  full  powers  as  the 
fourth  proprietary  of  Maryland,  an  act,  his  Majesty 
said,  "  to  give  encouragement  to  the  educating  of 
the    numerous    issue   of    so  noble    a    family  in  the 


134  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

Protestant  religion."  The  boy's  guardian,  Lord 
Guilford,  assumed  the  administration  in  his  name,  af- 
ter it  had  been  twenty-three  years  under  the  Crown, 
retaining  Governor  Hart  and  allowing  an  admirable 
revision  of  the  laws,  which  Avas  almost  the  last  act 
of  the  royal  Assembly,  and  which  "  remained, 
broadly  speaking,  the  law  of  the  province,  and 
fundamentally  the  law  of  the  State  almost  to  our 
own  time." 

Maryland  at  this  time  was  a  province  of  some 
fifty  thousand  people,  over  nine  thousand  of  them 
negroes.  The  last  Catholic  proprietor  had  ruled 
out  white  convict  slaves  for  ever ;  but  traffic  in  blacks 
from  Africa  had  thriven  under  Royalty.  The  largest 
number  of  slaves  known  to  have  been  owned  by  any 
one  man  was  fifteen  hundred  on  the  estates  of  a 
Marylander,  about  six  hundred  more  than  were 
owned  by  any  Virginian. 

Governor  Hart  was  succeeded  in  1720  by  Balti- 
more's uncle,  another  Charles  Calvert,  and  he,  on 
his  death,  by  the  proprietary's  brother,  another 
Benedict  Leonard  Calvert.  He  came  out  in  1726, 
but  resigned  five  years  later,  and  died  on  his 
homeward  voyage,  leaving  his  mark  in  the  found- 
ation of  the  new  city  of  Baltimore,  upon  the 
Patapsco  at  the  head  of  tide-water,  destined  to  be 
the  metropolis  of  the  province  and  of  the  State, 
although  it  grew  so  slowly  that  after  twenty  years 
there  were  "  only  about  twenty  dwellings  and  per- 
haps one  hundred  inhabitants. "  At  least  two  towns 
of  this  name  had  already  been  proposed ;  but  in 
Maryland  towns  did  not  flourish;  and  there  is  not  a 


TRIUMPH  OF  PROTESTANT  INTOLERANCE      1 35 

record  to  tell  their  histories  nor  a  stone  to  mark  the 
site  of  Baltimore  on  the  Bush  River,  laid  off  in  1683, 
nor  of  another  town  bearing  the  name  in  Dorchester 
County,  located  ten  years  later.  The  rise  of  the 
third  and  prosperous  Baltimore  was  secured  at  the 
expense  of  poor  Joppa  on  the  Gunpowder,  which 
was  established  next  after  Annapolis,  and  *'  had  a 
fair  share  of  prosperity  for  fifty  years  and  more,  un- 
til ..  .  Baltimore  drew  off  her  trade  and  she 
gradually  dwindled  ...  to  a  solitary  house 
and  a  grass-grown  graveyard." 

The  next  Governor  was  Samuel  Ogle,  whose  clear 
head  and  good  heart  served  both  proprietary  and 
colonists  for  almost  twenty  years  of  tranquillity, 
broken  by  occasional  efforts  to  have  the  charter  an- 
nulled, which  were  easily  put  down,  by  insignificant 
conflicts  with  the  Indians,  by  a  share  in  the  Carta- 
gena expedition  under  Admiral  Vernon  in  1737,  and 
by  disputes  upon  the  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania 
boundaries.  In  1732,  an  agreement  was  made  with 
the  sons  of  William  Penn  on  the  present  line,  in- 
stead of  the  fortieth  parallel,  which  was  nothing  less 
on  Baltimore's  part  than  making  to  the  Penns  a 
"  voluntary  inexplicable  surrender  of  his  rights  with- 
out reason  or  compensation,"  involving  two  and  a 
half  millions  of  acres  to  which  Penn's  patents  laid 
not  even  the  shadow  of  a  claim.  Baltimore  came 
to  the  province  soon  afterward,  staying  about  two 
years;  and  upon  the  discovery  of  what  he  had  done, 
applied  to  King  George  II.  to  help  him  recover  his 
loss  by  a  confirmation  of  the  charter  promises  first 
made    to  his    family  by    James    I.  ;    but  the    King 


136  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

declined  to  be  burdened  with  the  favouritisms  of 
his  distant  ancestor. 

Meantime  the  whole  border  took  sides,  and  soon 
was  thrown  into  confusion  by  some  fifty  families  of 
German  Palatines,  recent  settlers  in  Baltimore's 
country,  who  refused  to  pay  their  taxes  and  declared 
themselves  under  Pennsylvania,  tempted  by  a  gov- 
ernment requiring  no  military  duty  and  no  "  forty 
per  poll."  "  Sheriffs  on  both  sides  summoned 
posses  and  made  inroads  into  the  debatable  terri- 
tory, arresting  and  carrying  off  prisoners;  houses 
were  attacked  by  armed  bands,  and  men  on  both 
sides  beaten  or  dragged  off  to  prison";  until,  at 
Maryland's  request,  the  King  in  Council  commanded 
peace. 

During  "  King  George's  war,"  from  1744  to  1748, 
there  was  some  suffering  and  more  alarm  from  In- 
dians on  the  frontier.  The  Assembly  sent  three 
companies  to  Albany  to  assist  in  the  proposed  con- 
quest of  Canada,  but  flatly  declined  to  respond  to 
his  Majesty's  requisition  for  money.  It  was  not 
because  they  were  poor.  By  the  middle  of  the  cent- 
ury, the  province  had  a  great  export  trade  not  only 
in  tobacco  but  in  the  products  of  iron  mines  and 
furnaces,  in  furs  and  lumber,  besides  wheat  enough 
to  ship  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  bushels  a 
year. 

At  that  time,  after  an  unbroken  line  of  able  and 
generous  proprietors  for  nearly  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years,  a  degenerate  son  succeeded  his 
fathers,  like  a  visitation  upon  the  children  in  the 
third    and    fourth    generations    of    those   who    had 


§  s 


TRIUMPH   OF  PROTESTANT  INTOLERANCE      I  39 

abused  the  founders  of  their  Hberties.  On  the 
death  of  Charles,  fifth  Lord  Baltimore,  in  April, 
175 1,  Maryland  fell  for  twenty  years  under  his  dis- 
sipated, avaricious  son,  Frederick,  the  fifth  and  last 
proprietary,  the  sixth  and  last  baron,  who  used  the 
province  as  his  ancestors  had  never  done,  for  his 
own  purposes.  These  powers  Mr.  Bancroft  sums 
up  thus: 

"  On  acts  of  legislation  to  him  belonged  a  triple  veto, 
by  his  council,  by  his  deputy,  and  by  himself.  He 
established  courts  and  appointed  all  their  officers;  pun- 
ished convicted  offenders  or  pardoned  them;  appointed 
at  pleasure  councillors,  all  officers  of  the  colony,  and  all 
the  considerable  county  officers;  and  possessed  exclus- 
ively the  unappropriated  domain.  Reserving  choice 
lands  for  his  own  manors,  he  had  the  whole  people 
for  his  tenants  on  quit-rents,  which,  in  1754,  exceeded 
$25,000  a  year,  and  were  rapidly  increasing.  On 
every  new  grant  from  the  wild  domain  he  received 
caution  money;  his  were  all  escheats,  wardships,  and 
fruits  of  the  feudal  tenures.  Fines  of  alienation,  though 
abolished  in  England,  were  paid  for  his  benefit  on  every 
transfer,  and  fines  upon  devises  were  still  exacted.  He 
enjoyed  a  perpetual  port  duty  of  fourteen  pence  a  ton  on 
vessels  not  owned  in  the  province,  yielding  not  far  from 
$5000  a  year;  and  he  exacted  a  tribute  for  licenses  to 
hawkers  and  pedleis  and  to  ordinaries.  These  were  the 
private  income  of  Lord  Baltimore.  For  the  public  serv- 
ice ..  .  an  export  tax  of  a  shilling  on  every  hogs- 
head of  tobacco  gave  an  annually  increasing  income  of 
already  not  much  less  than  $7000  a  year,  more  than 
enough  for  the  salary  of  his     .     .     .     governor;  while 


I40  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Other  officers  were  paid  by  fees  and  perquisites."  Some 
of  his  forty  parishes,  under  the  forty  per  poll,  paid 
^looo  sterling  a  year,  giving  this  I'oiie  "  more  church 
patronage  than  any  landholder  in  England;  and,  as 
there  was  no  bishop  in  America,"  he  gave  it  to  men  of 
the  lowest  crimes. 

But  to  counterbalance  all  the  scamps  sent  out  to 
make  **  Maryland  parsons  "  a  byword  and  secular 
officers  a  reproach,  two  admirable  governors  were 
allowed  to  cover  the  whole  twenty  years.  The  first, 
who  came  in  1753,  was  Horatio  Sharpe,  the  man 
of  arms,  of  forcible  speech  and  staunchest  loyalty 
to  his  proprietary  and  his  king,  who  governed  the 
province  for  thirteen  years,  leaving  us  many  an  in- 
teresting glimpse  of  the  times  in  his  letters.  The 
old  Catholic  families  of  the  province,  he  said,  were 
but  about  one  twelfth  of  the  whole  population  and 
above  reproach ;  but  the  Assembly,  by  reason  of 
the  shortness  and  frequency  of  the  sessions,  showed 
**  too  many  instances  of  the  lowest  persons,  at  least 
those  of  small  fortunes,  no  soul,  and  very  mean  ca- 
pacities, appearing  as  representatives." 

Certainly  they  so  show^ed  themselves  during  the 
last  French  and  Indian  War,  which  was  opened  at 
their  own  door  soon  after  Sharpe  came;  and  for 
wdiich  they  would  vote  almost  nothing  but  sums  to 
be  raised  largely  out  of  Baltimore's  revenues,  know- 
ing that  Sharpe  could  not  consent  to  them.  The 
despicable  proprietor  thought  nothing  of  the  anxiety 
the  best  men  felt  for  the  province,  nor  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  frontiersmen.      He  wrote  only  of  good 


TRIUMPH   OF  PROTESTANT  INTOLERANCE      I4I 

places  for  more  favourites,  due  severity  against 
Catholics,  prompt  remittance  of  his  revenues,  ham- 
pers of  Maryland  partridges,  and  boxes  of  dried  rat- 
tlesnakes. But  Sharpe  found  men  and  money  to 
aid  him  in  answering  the  first  call  for  defence  from 
Governor  Dinwiddle  of  Virginia  when  the  French 
were  at  Fort  Duquesne,  and  their  Indians  terroris- 
ing the  whole  frontier.  He  took  charge  of  the  forces 
from  all  the  neighbouring  colonies  at  the  wooden 
stockade  called  Fort  Cumberland,  in  western  Mary- 
land, when  young  Washington  of  Virginia  resigned 
upon  the  blundering  order  from  England  that  Crown 
officers  should  outrank  provincials.  With  Sir  John 
St.  Clair,  he  surveyed  the  country  and  examined 
the  upper  Potomac  for  Braddock's  expedition 
against  Fort  Duquesne.  In  the  winter  of  1765,  the 
British  forces  were  landed  and  swarmed  all  over  the 
small,  new  town  of  Alexandria,  near  the  head  of 
navigation  on  the  Potomac.  It  was  there  that  the 
governors  of  most  of  the  provinces  met  Braddock 
and  assured  him  that  the  general  fund  required  for 
his  expedition  could  be  raised  only  by  act  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  many  urged  a  stamp  duty  which  had 
been  suggested  before.  Thence  Braddock  set  forth 
in  April  across  the  fertile  province,  stripping  the 
Marylanders  of  servants,  waggons,  and  horses  with- 
out so  much  as  **  by  your  leave."  After  he  reached 
the  frontier,  refusing  all  advice  to  let  his  men  thread 
the  woods  Indian  fashion,  he  built  his  roads  as  he 
went  and  marched  his  men  over  them  while  the 
hostile  Indians  filled  the  woods, killing  or  carrying  off 
the  settlers  and  burning  their  farms  in  the  intervals 


142  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

of  watching  the  brilliant  redcoats  progress  two  miles 
a  day,   and   picking  them   off  as   it  pleased  them. 
Even  when  the  desperate  people,  left  in  this  plight, 
threatened  to  march  upon  Annapolis  in  a  body  and 
compel  the  Assembly  to  protect  them,  the  delegates 
would  pass  no  bills  not  including  a  double  rate  on 
Catholics    and   a   tax   on   the   proprietor's    manors. 
Sharpe   agreed,    writing   Baltimore   that   the  whole 
province  west  of  the  Bay  was  in  danger  of  being 
depopulated  and  "  it  was  better  to  pay  a  tax  on  his 
manors  than  lose  half  his  revenues  and  his  manors 
to  boot."     Then  the  Assembly  voted  ^^40,000  for 
building  the  substantial  Fort  Frederick  and  other 
defences,  issuing  bills  of  credit,  and  providing  addi- 
tional taxes  and  duties  to  create  a  sinking  fund  for 
their  redemption.     Among  these  new  taxes  was  one 
on  bachelors  "  as  men  who  were  derelict  in  a  citi- 
zen's first  duty  at  a  time  when  it  was  most  impera- 
tive."    After   the   victorious    French    Indians    had 
made  the  country  a  desert  west  of  Conecocheague, 
and  Washington  had  said  that  unless  defence  was 
provided  a  few   days   more   would   not  see    fifteen 
families    left   in    Frederick   County,    the   Assembly 
showed  unusual  liberality  in  paying  a  bounty  of  ^50 
a  scalp  to  a  party  of  Cherokees  who  offered  their 
services,  and  proved  valuable  scouts;  but  the  dele- 
gates still  so  hampered  the  Governor's  command  that 
he  was  obliged  to  rely  chiefly  on  volunteers  for  men, 
and  for  supplies  on  merchants  and  others  willing  to 
take  their  chances  of  being  paid  by  future  Assem- 
blies.    The   delegates    did    nothing    for    the    futile 
northerly  campaigns  nor  toward  the  capture  of  Fort 


TRIUMPH  OF  PROTESTANT  INTOLERANCE      I43 


Duquesne,  but  after  the  latter  was  taken  they  voted 
a  small  sum  to  volunteers  of  the  province  who  had 
taken  part. 

During  this  war,  in  1755,  five  shiploads  of  the 
exiled  Acadians  were  landed  in  Maryland,  and  as 
"  Papists  "  and  French  were  doubly  unwelcome  to 
the  majority  of  the  province  and  were  ill  treated  by 
many  of  them;  but  the  long-persecuted  people  of 
their  own  faith  showed  them  the  greatest  kindness. 
Their  afflictions  were  relieved  by  the  purses  of  chiv- 
alrous citizens,  who  also  pleaded  their  cause  with  the 
King  and  the  Governor. 

In  the  year  1763,  when  the  conquest  of  Canada 
was  ratified  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  Maryland  was 
committed  for  ever  to  the  boundary  with  Pennsyl- 
vania by  the  line  run  by  two  English  mathema- 
ticians, Charles  Mason  and  Jeremiah  Dixon. 

In  Pontiac's  war  this  province  suffered  its  share  of 
trial,  and  Sharpe,  uniting  with 
the  other  officers,  did  his  part 
to  quell  the  savages  who  swept 
down  the  western  mountains, 
surprising  traders  and  hunters, 
and  driving  the  settlers'  fami- 
lies by  the  hundreds  to  Cum- 
berland and  other  forts. 

If  these  colonists  were  slow 
to  fight  the  King's  wars,  they 
were  quick  to  combat  his  pre- 
rogative.     On  the  first  news  of 

the  Stamp   Act    the   Maryland   Gazette,    the    only 
newspaper  in  the  province  (founded  in  1727),  opened 


THE    BRITISH    TAX 
STAMP,  1765-66. 


144  7^^^^   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

its  columns  to  free  discussion  of  the  subject.  The 
collector  was  forced  to  give  up  his  office;  his  house 
was  torn  down  and  there  was  much  of  what  dignified 
colonists  called  "  vulgar  demonstrations,"  burning 
effigies  and  mock  funerals,  besides  a  quiet  resistance 
which  prevented  an\^  stamps  from  being  landed  and 
allowed  no  delay  in  business  for  the  want  of  them. 
The  delegates  declared  that  the  Assembly  of  Mary- 


OLD   COURT-HOUSE   (176S)    AND    POWDER   MAGAZINE. 
From  an  old  Print  in  the  Possession  of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society. 

land  alone  had  the  right  to  tax  the  inhabitants  of 
that  province.  Both  Houses  and  the  Governor  at 
once  unanimously  approved  of  the  Massachusetts 
proposal  for  a  general  congress,  and  sent  their  dele- 
gates. Upon  news  of  the  repeal  there  was  great  re- 
joicing, many  banquets,  and  "  portentous  quantities 
of  punch  quaffed  " ;  but  the  Assembly  said  to  Gov- 
ernor Sharpe :  "  Your  Excellency  may  depend  that 
whenever  we  apprehend  the  rights  of  the  people  to 


THE   BURNING   OF  THE    "  PEGGY    STEWART. 
From  the  Painting  by  Frank  B.  Mayer. 


VOL.  II.  — lO. 


M5 


TRIUMPH  OF  PROTESTANT  INTOLERANCE      I47 

be  affected  we  shall  not  fail  boldly  to  assert,  and 
steadily  to  endeavour  to  maintain  them."  In  every 
measure  they  were  in  the  van  of  the  opposition  to 
parliamentary  taxation. 

In  1769,  Sharpe  gave  place  to  the  last  Governor, 
Sir  Robert  Eden,  the  husband  of  Lord  Baltimore's 
younger  sister,  an  amiable  man  who  would  not  op- 
pose the  resistance  into  which  he  had  stepped. 
After  Eden  had  been  here  a  year  or  so,  in  1771,  the 
disgraceful  proprietor  died,  leaving  no  legitimate 
children  and  bequeathing  Maryland  to  his  natural 
son,  Henry  Harford,  then  a  minor.  Before  the  lat- 
ter's  suit  in  Chancery  was  settled,  Maryland  was  in 
the  control  of  her  own  people.  They  had  no  pa- 
tience with  the  compromising  provinces;  they  were 
ironical  to  Virginia,  and  refused  to  trade  with  Rhode 
Island  vessels,  but  gave  generously  to  the  Boston- 
ians  when  their  port  was  closed  in  the  spring  of  1774- 
A  few  months  later,  led  by  the  citizens  of  Balti- 
more, the  inhabitants  elected  ninety-two  delegates, 
who  formed  a  convention  in  Annapolis  on  the  22d 
of  June,  appointed  delegates  to  the  General  Congress 
of  the  colonies  that  met  in  Philadelphia  in  Septem- 
ber, approved  the  measures  then  taken,  and  ' '  pledged 
the  province  to  resist  to  the  utmost  of  its  power  any 
attempt  to  enforce  the  late  obnoxious  acts  of  Par- 
liament against  any  one  of  the  colonies."  Com- 
mittees of  correspondence  and  of  vigilance  were 
formed;  and  in  October  a  shining  example  was 
made  of  the  owner  of  the  brig  Peggy  Stezvart,  a 
signer  of  the  Non-Importation  Agreement,  who  paid 
the  duty  on  a  consignment  of  tea  in  order  to  land 


148  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

the  rest  of  his  cargo.  Even  after  pubh'c  apologies 
and  proffers  of  reparation,  he  was  obHged  to  run  the 
Peggy  aground  "  and  set  her  on  fire  as  she  stood, 
with  all  her  sails  and  rigging,  the  crowd  watching 
till  she  burned  to  the  water's  edge."  In  midsum- 
mer of  1775,  a  gentleman  wrote  to  friends  in 
England:  "  Government  is  now  almost  totally  anni- 
hilated, and  power  transferred  to  the  multitudes. 
Speeches  become  dangerous,  letters  are  intercepted. 
The  inhabitants  of  this  Province  are  incorporated 
under  military  regulations,  and  apply  the  greater 
part  of  their  time  to  the  different  branches  of 
discipline." 

In  the  spring  of  1774,  when  Eden,  by  order  of 
the  ministry,  summoned  his  Assembly,  he  was  pro- 
hibited by  the  convention,  and  with  assurance  of 
the  people's  esteem  under  protection  of  the  Council 
of  Safety,  he  sailed  for  England. 

In  July,  1775,  while  the  Second  Congress  was 
holding  its  first  session  at  Philadelphia,  the  conven- 
tion formally  undertook  the  government  of  the  pro- 
vince. Besides  maintaining  the  local  militia,  it  not 
only  sent  its  quota  to  the  Continental  Army,  but 
despatched  to  Boston  two  companies  of  expert  rifle- 
men in  hunting-shirts  and  moccasins.  After  the 
Declaration,  the  provisional  convention  transferred 
the  control  of  the  province  to  the  Council  of  Safety 
until  the  representatives  chosen  at  the  new  election 
met  on  the  21st  of  March,  1777,  and  took  up  the 
government  of  a  sovereign  State. 


CHAPTER   VII 

PENNSYLVANIA,    EIGHTH    COLONY — THE    FRIENDS' 
GREATEST   COLONY 

THEIR    PREDECESSORS 

THE  last  of  the  group  of  Middle  Colonies  for 
which  the  Dutch  first  broke  ground,  giving  it 
claim  to  eighth  place  among  the  Thirteen,  became 
after  nearly  fifty  years  the  great  Friends'  province 
of  Pennsylvania.  Although  denied  by  rivals,  it 
seems  to  be  true  that  the  Dutch  built  Fort  Bevers- 
rede  in  1633,  on  a  large  tract  purchased  by  Arendt 
Corssen  from  the  Indians,  including  the  meeting 
place  of  several  trails  at  the  mouth  of  one  of  the 
Minquas'  important  streams,  the  Manaiung,  which 
was  so  obscure  from  the  South  River  that  the  Dutch 
called  it  Schuylkill,  the  hidden  creek.  Whether 
Beversrede  ever  was  much  of  a  settlement  or  not, 
the  New  Netherlanders  had  an  enormous  peltry 
trade  there  for  about  five  years,  till  Peter  Minuit's 
colony  of  Swedes  took  possession  of  another  import- 
ant creek  of  the  Minquas  in  what  is  now  Delaware. 
A  few  years  later,  about  1640,  they  planted  another 

149 


150  THE  THIKrEEN   COLONIES 

town  much  nearer,  which  they  called  Upland  and 
the  English  afterwards  renamed  Chester;  and  in  a 
few  more  years  the  greatest  of  the  Swedish  gov- 
ernors, the  masterful  giant  John  Printz,  made  his 
headquarters  for  eight  years  on  the  island  of  Tena- 
cong  or  Tinicum,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill, 
compelling  the  Dutch  to  dip  their  flags  and  pay 
tribute,  while  no  Englishmen  were  allowed  within 
the  bay.  A  few  miles  back  in  the  woods,  on  what  is 
now  Cobb's  Creek,  he  had  the  first  grist  mill  in  the 
region,  "  for  grinding  both  fine  and  coarse  flower 
going  early  and  late  .  .  .  near  it  a 
strong  dwelling  house  built  of  hickory  and  inhabited 
by  freemen." 

The  Governor's  seat  or  military  capital,  Nya  Gote- 
borg,  v/as  on  Tenacong,  a  curious  sort  of  rocky, 
tree-planted  island  formed  by  the  separation  into 
two  branches  of  what  is  now  Darby  Creek.  There 
he  had  a  fortress  of  hemlock  logs,  with  a  church, 
whose  pastor  was  the  erratic  chronicler  John  Cam- 
panius  Holm.  The  Governor  had  a  "  very  hand- 
some "  dwelling,  which  he  called  Printzhof,  built 
either  on  Tenacong  or  on  the  mainland  nearby, 
called  Kinsessing  by  the  natives.  There  he  also 
built  a  pleasure-house,  laid  out  beautiful  gardens, 
planted  an  orchard,  and,  as  Mr.  Fisher  says,  man- 
aged to  live  like  a  gentleman,  certainly  the  first 
yachtsman  on  the  Delaware.  Thrilling  tales  were 
chronicled  by  Dutch  and  New  England  writers  of 
the  way  in  which  he  dealt  with  anyone  who  dared 
to  meddle  with  the  Schuylkill  trade,  or  indeed  to 
intrude  in  any  way  upon  that  region.     The  Swedisli 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH  COLONY  I51 

records,  however,  give  a  different  picture  of  the 
man  whom  the  New  Englanders  describe  as  a 
ruf^an,  a  man  who  "  had  neither  Christian  nor 
moral  conscience." 

One  of  the  lively  episc^des  belonging  to  this  part 
of  the  story  is  connected  with  the  appearance  of  a 
pinnace  from  Boston,  whose  master,  it  is  said,  was 
determined  to  find  the  source  of  the  beaver  supply, 
supposed  to  be  at  the  lake  of  Lyconia.  He  discov- 
ered nothing  but  the  power  of  a  Dutch  and  a  Swed- 
ish boat,  which  met  him,  to  drive  him  out  of  the 
bay.  Yet  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  when 
another  vessel  from  Boston  was  boarded  by  un- 
friendly Indians,  Printz  rescued  the  whole  party  and 
sent  them  safely  to  Newhaven. 

Stormy  scenes  with  the  Dutch  began  after  the 
new  commissary,  Andreas  Hudde,  took  charge  of 
Fort  Nassau.  The  first  conflict  occurred  when 
Hudde  attempted  to  sustain  a  Dutch  trading  cap- 
tain whom  Printz  had  ordered  to  leave  *'  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Queen."  When  Hudde  opened  what 
proved  to  be  a  vain  and  angry  correspondence, 
Printz  cornered  him  by  asking  for  a  precise  defini- 
tion of  the  Dutch  territory,  which  could  not  be 
given,  and  then  forced  the  captain  to  retreat  by 
threatening  to  confiscate  his  ship  and  cargo.  Soon 
after  that.  Director  Kieft  ordered  Hudde  to 
strengthen  the  Dutch  claim  by  the  purchase  and 
colonisation  of  a  tract  of  land  on  the  South  River 
above  the  Schuylkill.  l^ut  before  the  settlers 
reached  it,  Hudde  reported  that  Printz  had  not 
only    set    the  Indians   against   him,    but    had    sent 


152  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

officers  to  tear  down  the  Dutch  arms,  using  **  in  an 
insolent  and  hostile  manner  these  threatening  words, 
'  that  altho.ugh  it  had  been  the  colours  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange  that  were  hoisted  there,  he  would  have 
thrown  these  too  under  his  feet';  besides  many 
bloody  menaces."  Printz  protested  in  a  formal 
letter  against  Hudde's  "  gross  violence,"  demanding 
that  he  should  "  discontinue  the  injuries  of  which 
he  had  been  guilty  .  .  .  without  showing  the 
least  respect  to  Her  Royal  Majesty's  magnificence, 
reputation,  and  highness."  The  record  goes  on  to 
say  that  when  Hudde  sent  an  answer  of  extreme 
politeness,  Printz  treated  the  bearer  very  rudely,  at 
length  "  taking  a  gun  in  his  hand  from  the  wall  to 
shoot  him,  as  he  imagined."     Later,  Hudde  wrote: 

"  John  Printz  leaves  nothing  untried  to  render  us 
suspected,  as  well  among  the  savages  as  among  the 
Christians — yea,  often  is  conniving  when  the  subjects  of 
the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  as  well  freemen  as  ser- 
vants, when  arriving  at  the  place  where  he  resides,  are 
in  most  unreasonable  manner  abused,  so  that  they  are 
often,  on  returning  home,  bloody  and  bruised." 

It  is  said  by  some  writers  that  Hudde  at  this  time 
built  P^ort  Beversrede ;  but  whatever  its  date,  the 
Swedes  prevented  the  Dutch  from  making  use  of  it. 
They  cut  down  the  trees  around  it,  including  the 
fruit  trees  which  Hudde  had  planted,  put  up  another 
house  directly  in  front  of  it,  and  met  any  attempts 
at  building  on  the  part  of  the  Dutch  with  such  "  a 
sound  drubbing"  that  their  opposition  subsided 
into    a  mere  ripple  of  protests,   and  to   a   skilfully 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH  COLONY  I  53 

conducted  trade  in  guns  and  ammunition  with  the 
Indians.  But  they  could  not  induce  the  natives  to 
use  their  weapons  against  the  Swedes.  For  the 
short  time  that  New  Netherland's  affairs  were  at 
their  lowest  ebb,  and  those  of  New  Swedeland  at 
the  flood,  the  centre  of  life  on  the  South  Bay  and 
River  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill.  But, 
Mr.  Keen  says: 

"  In  November,  1645,  a  grievous  calamity  befell  the 
colony  in  the  burning  of  New  Gottenburg,  which  was  set 
on  fire  by  a  gunner,  who  was  tried  and  sentenced  by 
Printz  and  subsequently  sent  to  Sweden  for  punishment. 
'  The  whole  place  was  consumed,'  says  the  Governor, 
'  in  a  single  hour,  nought  being  rescued  but  the  dairy  ' ; 
the  loss  to  the  Company  amounting  to  4,000  riksdaler. 
'  The  people  escaped,  naked  and  destitute;  but  the 
winter  immediately  setting  in  with  great  severity,  and 
the  river  and  creeks  freezing,  they  were  cut  off  from  the 
mainland'  and  barely  avoided  starvation;  relief  not 
arriving  until  March,  Printz  continued,  however,  to 
reside  at  Tinicum,  and  soon  rebuilt  a  storehouse,  to  re- 
ceive '  provisions  and  cargoes  to  be  sold  on  behalf  of  the 
Company.'  He  also  erected  a  church  upon  the  island, 
'  decorating  it,'  says  he,  '  so  far  as  our  resources  would 
permit  after  the  Swedish  fashion.'  " 

Everything  went  Printz's  way  until  after  New 
Netherland  received  for  Director  the  hale  old  soldier 
Peter  Stuyvesant,  who  increased  Nassau's  garrison 
and  built  Fort  Casimir  below  Christina.  Soon  after 
that  Printz  went  home.  The  more  southerly  places 
were  the  scenes  of  the  events  that  followed  in  the 


154  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

conquest  of  New  Sweden  in  1655  by  the  Dutch, 
and  the  decade  of  troubled  changes.  Then  this  re- 
gion, excepting  the  thriving  village  of  Upland,  was 
an  insignificant  part  of  an  insignificant  colony,  most 
of  the  time  doing  little  but  farming  and  a  small 
smuggling  trade  under  New  Netherland,  and  during 
the  year  and  a  half  under  the  city  of  Amsterdam. 
It  was  then  that  Englishmen  first  secured  foothold 
on  the  Delaware,  as  they  called  it,  and  had  their 
triumph  at  length  when  it  was  declared  a  part  of 
Lieutenant  Richard  Nicolls's  conquest  of  New  Neth- 
erland in  the  name  of  the  Duke  of  York. 

The  places  were  not  too  small  to  feel  his  Royal 
Highness's  grasping  levies  and  harsh  measures  to 
make  ever37thing  English;  nor  to  enjoy  the  year 
when  intelligent  Dutch  control  returned;  nor  to 
suffer  more  than  ever  when  the  Duke's  govern- 
ment was  set  up  again  over  the  entire  region,  some- 
times called  the  Delaware  Colony,  sometimes  the 
Territories  of  New  York.  At  Upland,  a  good  many 
English  Friends  or  Quakers  settled.  They  made 
friends  with  Swedes  and  Dutch,  buying  from  them 
provisions  and  cattle,  making  themselves  welcome 
and  attracting  others  of  their  persecuted  sect  from 
both  Old  and  New  England  to  lay  out  farms  and 
build  meeting-houses  at  Shackamaxon  and  at  the 
falls  of  the  Delaware,  not  far  from  the  settlements 
begun  in  1675  by  the  Friends'  Colony  of  West 
Jersey.  Altogether  there  were  perhaps  two  thou- 
sand people  here,  many  in  the  second  and  third 
generations  of  American  birth,  Swedes,  Finns, 
Dutch,  and  English,  in  scattered  farms  and  a  baker's 


PENNSYLVANIA,    EIGHTH   COLONY  I  55 

dozen  of  small  communities  on  tide-water  streams, 
which,  with  the  Indian  trails,  were  their  only  high- 
ways. On  what  was  afterwards  the  boundary  be- 
tween Delaware  and  Pennsylvania  was  New  Finland  ; 
next  above  was  Upland,  and  farther  north  in  the 
stream-threaded  region  of  highland  and  lowland  now 
covered  by  Philadelphia  and  its  suburbs  were  settle- 
ments which,  at  one  time  or  another,  bore  the  names 
of  Nya  Goteborg,  changed  by  the  Dutch  into  Kat- 
tenburg,  Printzhof,  or  Chinsessingh  (the  Indians' 
name  for  land  west  of  the  Schuylkill),  Wicaco,  Nit- 
taba  Keuck,  Nya  Wasa,  Straws  Wijk,  and  Facken- 
land,  besides  Fort  Korsholm  (incorrectly  called 
Gripsholm);  v/hile  somewhat  inland  were  Wasa, 
"  the  New  Fort,"  and  Printz's  Mill.  Both  Dutch 
and  Swedes  seem  to  have  been  devoted  to  their 
pastors  and  churches.  They  were,  as  their  pro- 
prietor afterwards  wrote  of  them, 

"  a  plain,  strong^  industrious  people;  yet  have  made  no 
great  progress  in  the  culture  or  propagation  of  fruit  trees: 
.  .  .  but  I  presume  the  Indians  made  them  the  more 
careless  by  furnishing  them  with  the  means  of  profit,  to 
wit,  skins  and  furs  in  exchange  for  rum  and  such  strong 
liquors.  ...  I  must  needs  commend  their  respect 
to  authority  and  kindly  behaviour  to  the  English.  They 
are  proper  and  strong  of  body,  so  they  have  fine  child- 
ren, and  almost  every  house  full  .  .  .  some  eight 
sons.  And  ...  I  see  few  young  men  more  sober 
and  laborious." 

We    can    probably    never   know   just   how   these 
heterogeneous  farmers  and  fur-traders  jinished  their 


156  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

half-century  as  an  unimportant  colony  of  a  colony 
before  they  suddenly  became  the  corner-stone  of 
the  great  new  province  of  William  Penn. 

penn's  province 

Although  a  Court  favourite,  witty,  agreeable,  ath- 
letic, an  Oxford  man,  for  a  time  a  soldier,  and  not 
too  unworldly  to  be  gratified  by  the  addition  to  his 
already  extensive  estates  in  England  and  Ireland  of 
millions  of  acres  in  America  which  would  secure  a 
great  fortune  to  his  children,  William  Penn  was  a 
Friend  or  Quaker,  a  staunch  member  of  the  despised 
sect  founded  by  George  Fox.  For  years  he  had 
been  one  of  its  missionaries,  speaking  in  many 
countries  besides  his  own,  writing  books  and  pam- 
phlets, suffering  imprisonment,  running  the  risk  of 
losing  favour  at  Court ;  and  more  than  once  estranged 
from  his  father.  They  were  reconciled,  however, 
and  shortly  before  the  old  Admiral's  death  he  de- 
clared that  he  loved  his  son  the  more  for  having 
shown  the  courage  of  his  convictions. 

The  project  of  founding  a  Friends'  colony  had 
been  his  dream  even  in  his  college  days.  In  the 
midst  of  his  gay  comrades  at  Christ  Church,  Ox- 
ford, he  had,  so  he  said,  "  an  opening  of  joy  as  to 
these  parts  in  the  year  1661,"  from  a  word  dropped 
by  a  missionary  of  Fox's  desire  to  establish  a  colony 
for  the  sect  in  the  wooded  mountains  north  of 
Maryland.  This  desire  was  increased  by  the  suc- 
cess of  the  small  company  who  a  few  years  later 
secured  Colonel  Nicolls's  "  Navysink  "   patents  for 


WILLIAM    PENN. 
After  the  Portrait  by  West. 


157 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH   COLONY  I  59 

the  first  Friends'  settlement  in  the  world,  before  the 
Duke  of  York  notified  his  Governor  that  he  had  sold 
and  set  off  the  province  of  New  Jersey.  In  1675, 
when  that  palatinate  was  divided,  young  Penn  had 
acted  as  arbitrator  between  tw^o  of  his  Quaker 
brethren,  John  Fenwick  and  Edward  Byllinge,  in  a 
dispute  over  the  latter's  property  in  West  Jersey, 
the  first  province  founded  and  governed  by  Friends. 
Seven  years  later  he  was  one  of  the  association  of 
Friends  and  Presbyterians  who  bought  East  Jersey 
from  the  Carteret  family.  In  that  same  year  he  re- 
ceived in  his  own  right  the  largest  piece  of  America 
ever  given  to  one  person. 

On  March  4,  168 1,  Charles  II.  cancelled  a  debt  of 
i^i6,ooo  to  Sir  William  Penn,  the  Admiral  who  six- 
teen years  before  had  won  for  the  Duke  of  York  a 
great  victory  over  the  Dutch  fleet,  by  granting  to 
the  hero's  son  over  forty  thousand  square  miles  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Delaware  River,  beyond  a  circle 
drawn  at  a  radius  of  twelve  miles  from  New  Castle, 
between  the  fortieth  and  forty-third  parallels  and 
westward  to  the  fifth  degree  of  longitude.  His 
Majesty  called  it  Pennsylvania  for  the  Admiral  who 
had  added  to  England's  glory  and  allowed  the 
Crown  to  owe  him  so  royally.  When  the  young 
proprietor  feared  it  would  be  laid  to  his  own  vanity 
and  suggested  New  Wales  as  his  father's  family 
were  possibly  Welsh,  the  King  insisted,  *'  No,  I  am 
godfather  to  the  territory  and  will  bestow  its  name." 
Penn  drafted  his  own  charter  from  that  of  Mary- 
land, although  the  legal  powers  of  the  realm  added 
a  few  clauses  establishing  the  right  of  the  British 


l6o  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Parliament  to  lay  taxes  and  make  laws,  the  necessity 
for  the  Privy  Council's  approbation  to  the  acts  of 
the  colonial  Legislature,  the  confinement  of  trade  to 
English  ports,  subject  to  the  King's  customs-officers, 
and  the  colonists'  appeal  to  England  from  their  own 
courts.  Beyond  this,  the  King  asked  only  the  fanci- 
ful tribute  of  two  beaver  skins  a  year,  and  one  fifth 
of  the  gold  and  silver  mined.  It  was  provided  that 
the  laws  should  be  made  with  the  consent  of  a  ma- 
jority of  the  colonists,  except  on  emergency,  when 
Penn  could  assume  both  civil  and  military  control — 
something  to  be  remembered  in  the  history  of  his 
Quaker  colonists. 

Penn  was  then  thirty-six  years  old,  and  till  his 
death  at  more  than  twice  that  age,  except  for  about 
two  years,  his  power  over  his  domain  was  absolute 
during  all  the  changes  in  the  realm;  while  the  con- 
trol of  his  wife  and  sons  followed  without  break  for 
almost  a  century,  till  the  colonies  became  inde- 
pendent.     Mr.  Fisher  says: 

"  The  creation  by  one  man  of  such  a  huge,  prosperous, 
and  powerful  empire,  and  its  possession  by  himself  and 
his  children  as  a  feudal  barony  for  such  a  length  of  time, 
has,  we  believe,  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
Kings  have  possessed  themselves  of  such  domains,  but 
never  before  a  private  citizen  who  scorned  all  titles." 

He  advertised  for  colonists,  especially  Friends,  to 
buy  land  at  the  rate  of  forty  shillings  the  hundred 
acres,  subject  to  a  quit-rent  of  one  shilling  the  hund- 
red acres  per  annum  for  ever;  also  for  tenants  under 
the  quit-rent  alone.     Small  as  the  prices  were,  the 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH  COLONY  l6l 

prospect  of  receiving  them  for  a  goodly  portion  of 
forty  thousand  square  miles  was  a  pleasant  one. 
Answers  poured  in  so  fast  that  Penn's  cousin,  Cap- 
tain William  Markham,  with  three  shiploads  of 
industrious  Friends,  mostly  from  the  north  of  Eng- 
land, landed  at  Upland  about  the  ist  of  July  of  that 
same  year  1681.  The"  weaker  ones"  were  taken 
into  the  hospitality  of  the  village  houses,  while  the 
hardy  members  of  the  company  found  shelter  in  rude 
huts,  hollow  trees,  and  caves  dug  in  the  high  banks 
of  the  Delaware. 

The  good-will  of  the  old  settlers  was  won  as  much 
by  the  gentle  newcomers,  perhaps,  as  by  the  letter 
Penn  sent  by  Captain  Markham  assuring  them  sev- 
eral times  over  in  his  prolix  fashion  that  they  should 
have  laws  of  their  own  making  and  "  whatever  sober 
and  free  men  can  reasonably  desire  for  the  security 
and  improvement  of  their  own  happiness."  The 
Indians,  too,  were  assured  of  fair  treatment  and  re- 
quested **  to  continue  the  favourable  disposition 
they  had  always  shown  to  the  Swedes  and  Dutch  on 
these  shores." 

As  soon  as  possible  Markham,  Thomas  Holme, 
Surveyor-General  of  the  province,  and  others  chose 
the  highland  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill — 
a  mile  square  between  that  stream  and  the  Delaware 
—  for  the  capital  of  the  province;  which  Penn  said 
should  be  called  Philadelphia,  the  City  of  Brotherly 
Love.  But  Markham  soon  notified  Penn  that  he  had 
made  a  mistake — the  Baltimore  family  called  it  a 
wilful  error — in  the  location  of  the  fortieth  parallel; 
that   Upland,   and   even   the  site   for  Philadelphia, 


1 62  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

were  below  that  line,  and  that  Baltimore  was  press- 
ing his  claim.  This  western  shore  of  the  bay  was 
the  threshold  of  Penn's  domain  ;  its  several  thousand 
industrious  people,  its  one  hundred  and  fifty  mills, 
and  its  well-established  and  fortified  posts  might 
control  the  welfare  of  Pennsylv^ania  either  in  peace 
or  war.  He  knew  that  it  never  had  been  under 
Baltimore's  government ;  that  the  Duke  of  York,  his 
own  special  patron,  had  taken  it  from  the  Dutch,  and 
that  he  regarded  it  as  an  unimportant  "  territory  " 
of  New  York.  Indeed,  Penn  merely  had  to  ask  in 
order  to  receive  (in  August,  1682)  patents  to  the 
whole  region  as  far  as  Cape  Henlopen  in  fee  simple, 
though  without  political  rights. 

Then  Penn  set  sail  with  a  hundred  of  his  sect, 
chiefly  from  Sussex,  landing  at  New  Castle,  the 
chief  town  of  the  territories,  in  October;  to  remain 
in  his  new  possessions,  it  chanced,  but  a  year  and 
ten  months.  After  asserting  his  ownership  there, 
sanctioning  the  officers  then  serving,  and  planting  a 
desire  in  the  people  to  be  united  to  the  liberal  gov- 
ernment of  his  province,  he  moved  on  to  greet  the 
people  at  Upland — which  he  renamed  Chester — as 
his  own  colonists,  ignoring  Markham's  discovery  as 
to  the  fortieth  parallel.  Soon  afterward  he  went  to 
see  how  Philadelphia  was  progressing.  He  said  it 
was  a  situation  which  he  had  not  seen  surpassed  in 
all  the  many  parts  of  the  world  where  he  had  been ; 
and  he  urged  on  the  building  as  fast  as  possible,  to 
make  good  his  possession,  knowing  that  although 
the  Duke  of  York  had  ignored  tlie  patents  of  Mary- 
land,  they   had   not   been   set   aside  by   law.     The 


AN    EARLY    RESIDENT    OF    PITTSBURGH. 
From  a  Statue  by  T.  A.  Mills  in  the  Carnegie  Museum. 


163 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH  COLONY  1 65 

streets,  one  hundred  feet  wide  on  parallel  lines, 
crossing  at  right  angles,  were  generously  planted 
with  trees;  the  rectangular  plots  (known  to  this 
day  as  squares)  afforded  each  house  an  attractive 
garden,  and  made  a  town  of  such  admirable  pro- 
portions that  it  has  served  for  the  model  city  plan 
of  America  ever  since.  During  his  visit  three  hund- 
red houses  sprang  up  and  several  hundred  farms 
were  laid  out  round  about.  Everyone  worked  with 
a  will  under  the  eye  of  the  handsome  young  pro- 
prietor. No  doubt  he  made  suggestions  for  the 
humblest  as  well  as  the  finest  homes,  taking  kindly 
interest  in  all,  and  probably  settling  many  a  differ- 
ence offhand,  among  the  three  thousand  people 
already  there  and  the  more  than  equal  number  of 
newcomers  whom  he  saw  arrive.  He  started  their  in- 
dustries, and  directed  the  commerce  which  employed 
some  fifty  sail  in  a  single  twelvemonth.  On  the 
Delaware  bank,  near  what  is  now  Bristol,  he  chose 
his  country-seat,  which  he  called  Pennsbury,  and 
began  to  lay  out  the  grounds,  which  set  an  example 
for  beautiful  rural  homes,  soon  followed  by  all  the 
richer  citizens  of  Philadelphia. 

About  six  miles  to  the  north,  on  the  highland  be- 
tween the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill,  a  settlement, 
called  the  German  Town,  was  built  by  the  pioneers 
of  a  German  association,  the  Frankfort  Company, 
which  had  bought  twenty-five  thousand  acres  from 
Penn.  This  was  destined  to  be  for  one  hundred 
years  the  German  capital,  so  to  speak,  of  America. 
Among  the  early  settlers  were  the  learned  scholar 
Francis  Daniel  Pastorius,  and  many  educated  men 


1 66  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

from  Holland  and  France  as  well  as  from  Germany, 
mostly  Mennonites.  They  were  an  older  sect  than 
the  Quakers,  but  because  their  beliefs  were  some- 
what alike,  the  Friends  encouraged  and  aided  them 
with  money  to  remove  to  Pennsylvania.  They  were 
a  valuable  addition  to  the  colony  because  of  their 
industry,  piety,  and  intelligence,  as  well  as  for  their 
gratitude  to  the  Friends.  The  Mennonites  were  the 
forerunners  of  the  great  German  immigrations  of 
their  own  and  countless  other  sects,  not  only  to 
Pennsylvania,  where  in  time  they  far  outnumbered 
the  Quakers,  but  to  all  the  Middle  and  Southern 
colonies.  They  brought  with  them  fellow-believers 
or  kindred  sects  from  France  and  Holland.  Penn, 
whose  mother  was  Dutch,  offered  them  every  possi- 
ble inducement  to  come.  The  Duke  of  York's 
great  province  was  still  remembered  as  Dutch,  and 
that  name  was  commonly  given  by  Englishmen  to 
all  races  but  their  own  in  its  cosmopolitan  popula- 
tion ;  by  an  easy  corruption  oi  Deiitsch,  the  Germans' 
name  for  themselves,  they  became  the  **  Pennsyl- 
vania Dutch,"  to  this  day  a  distinct  race,  whose 
language  is  a  curious  admixture  of  German  and 
English. 

The  Friends  of  Philadelphia,  as  well  as  the  more 
highly  educated  founders  of  German  Town,  provided 
at  once  for  their  children's  common-school  educa- 
tion. In  other  colonies,  schooling  was  only  for 
boys,  but  Philadelphia  was  scarcely  a  year  old  when 
Enoch  Flower  opened  a  school  in  a  dwelling  made 
of  pine  and  cedar  planks,  where  he  taught  both 
girls  and  boys.      His  terms  were  :  "  To  learn  to  read. 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH  COLONY  1 69 

four  shillings  a  quarter;  to  write,  six  shillings; 
boarding  scholars,  to  wit:  diet,  lodging,  washing, 
and  schooling,  ten  pounds  the  whole  year."  The 
value  of  money,  we  must  remember,  was  five  and 
some  say  even  ten  times  more  than  in  our  day. 
Soon  after  Flower's  school  was  opened,  a  printing- 
press  was  set  up. 

While  the  capital  was  building,  Penn  lived  in 
Chester.  At  the  Friends'  meeting-house  there  in 
December,  he  laid  before  the  representatives  elected 
by  the  freemen  of  both  province  and  territories  a 
plan  of  government,  which  should  '*  show  men  how 
free  and  happy  they  can  be."  At  the  outset  it 
was  ruled  that  *'  none  speak  but  once  before  the 
question  is  put,  nor  after  but  once;  and  that  none 
fall  from  the  matter  to  the  person,  and  that  super- 
fluous and  tedious  speeches  may  be  stopped  by  the 
Speaker."  The  result  was,  as  Mr.  Gay  says,  that 
"no  four  days  of  legislative  work  were  ever  more  har- 
moniously spent  in  laying  the  foundations  of  society." 
By  this  constitution  Penn,  as  Governor,  was  to  act  in 
conjunction  with,  and  never  without  the  consent  of, 
a  council  afterwards  limited  to  eighteen  members, 
elected  by  the  people;  proposing  all  the  laws,  acting 
as  the  highest  power  in  enforcing  them,  and  looking 
after  everything  from  setting  up  the  courts  and  ap- 
pointing justices  of  the  peace,  to  laying  out  roads, 
and  establishing  public  schools  and  prisons,  which 
were  to  be  workhouses  or  reformatories.  The  second 
branch  of  the  government,  called  the  General  As- 
sembly and  also  elected  by  the  freemen,  was  to  ac- 
cept or  reject  but  not  originate  the  laws.     Although 


I/O  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

this  last  clause  was  a  stumbling-block,  the  delegates 
soon  voted  this  "  Frame  "  or  "  Written  Laws  "  as 
the  first  constitution  of  Pennsylvania.  The  next 
year,  both  branches  meeting  together  in  Philadel- 
phia, they  began  business  under  this  liberal  but 
top-heavy  government,  w^hich  stood,  to  no  one's 
satisfaction,  for  eighteen  years.  The  Printed  Laws, 
or  Laws  Agreed  upon  in  England,  were  a  compre- 
hensive set  of  regulations  for  the  establishment  and 
growth  of  the  colony,  which,  after  many  alterations, 
were  accepted  as  the  Great  Law  of  the  province. 
All  foreigners  then  on  the  soil  were  naturalised,  and 
an  Act  of  Union  annexed  to  Pennsylvania  the 
"  three  lower  counties  on  the  Delaware." 

First  and  foremost,  freedom  of  worship  was  se- 
cured to  "  all  persons  acknowledging  the  one  Eternal 
God,  living  peaceably  and  justly."  But  no  man  who 
did  not  believe  Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  Son  of  God  and 
Saviour  of  the  world  was  either  to  vote  or  hold  office. 
Pennsylvania  was  founded  for  the  freedom  of  Christ- 
ian worship.  Freedom  of  conscience  was  still  con- 
sidered sin  outside  of  Rhode  Island.      Beside  being 

believers,"  freemen  or  voters  must  be  landholders 
or  residents  who  paid  "  scot  and  lot  to  the  govern- 
ment," while  all  newcomers  who  were  not  subjects 
of  Great  Britain  must  be  naturalised  by  special  vote 
of  the  Assembly.  Great  care  and  judgment  were 
shown  in  establishing  courts  of  law,  and  in  them  the 
word  of  any  Christian  was  accepted  without  oath, 
owing  to  the  Quakers'  aversion  to  swearing  under 
any  circumstances.  The  life  and  the  power  of  the 
proprietor  were  as  sacred  as  Majesty.     Treason  and 


11 

►2       O 


Z   fa 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH   COLONY  1 73 

murder  were  the  only  offences  punished  by  death ; 
although  the  law  provided  penalties  for  every  form 
of  crime  and  vice  down  to  scolding  and  lies,  even 
touching  innocent  amusement.  Young  men  were 
compelled  to  marry,  and  everyone  was  obliged  to 
wear  only  one  kind  of  cloth  for  winter  and  another 
for  summer.  Among  other  departures  from  English 
law,  such  as  were  made  by  the  New  England  Puri- 
tans half  a  century  before,  were  regulations  making 
marriage  a  civil  contract  and  ignoring  all  rights  of 
primogeniture.  No  poor  rates  or  tithes  were  al- 
lowed and — to  the  joy  of  genealogists — provision  was 
made  immediately  for  the  registry  of  births,  mar- 
riages, deaths,  and  other  local  events.  The  govern- 
ment for  half  a  century  was  controlled  by  Friends, 
although  thousands  of  people  from  all  parts  of  Eu- 
rope settled  in  Philadelphia,  German  Town,  and 
other  villages,  or  spread  out  into  the  fertile  valleys. 
Even  after  leading  members  of  the  Society  ceased 
to  fill  most  of  the  offices,  they  dominated  the  As- 
sembly, as  the  old  historian  Gordon  says,  "  by  their 
firm  attachment  to  liberal  political  principles,  their 
courage  in  resisting,  by  invincible  moral  force,  every 
encroachment  on  the  rights  of  conscience;  their 
justice  and  kindness  to  the  aborigines,  their  unos- 
tentatious but  efficient  charities." 

But  as  Mr.  Fisher  admits,  the  records  of  this 
achievement  consist  mostly  "  of  what  seem  like  very 
petty  disputes,  tiresome  to  investigate  and  equally 
tiresome  to  read." 

The  Society  of  Friends  held  their  first  Yearly 
Meeting  in  Philadelphia  in  July,  1683.     They  soon 


1/4  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

became  the  leaders  of  their  sect  in  America,  a  firmly 
established  body  of  deeply  religious,  sober-minded, 
plainly  dressed  people,  who  lived  by  the  inward 
light,  abhorred  war  and  every  sort  of  strife,  believed 
not  in  caste,  wore  their  hats  before  kings,  swore  not 
at  all,  retained  the  second  person  singular,  long  dis- 
used by  other  Englishmen,  and  called  themselves 
Friends,  yet  still  answered  to  the  name  fixed  upon 
their  forerunners  in  derision.  In  daily  life  the 
thoughts  were  not  to  be  disturbed,  even  by  raising 
the  voice  in  speaking,  certainly  not  by  singing  or 
any  other  form  of  music,  nor  by  games  of  chance 
or  skill,  hunting,  field  sports,  much  less  daring 
enterprises  of  business  or  government.  Dancing 
parties,  theatres,  novels,  and  even  poetry  were  pro- 
scribed. A  plain  education  in  the  three  R's  was 
necessary  for  every  child,  boy  or  girl,  but  scholar- 
ship was  dreaded  as  much  as  luxury  or  fashion  in 
dress.  The  discipline  of  the  Society  was  strict;  not 
upon  dogmas  and  ceremonies — the  Friends  had  none 
of  them  —  but  on  conduct.  Every  member  was  in 
duty  bound  to  watch  the  others,  and  report  any- 
thing amiss  to  their  families  and  to  the  Meeting  or 
congregation  to  which  they  belonged.  All  the 
families  of  a  neighbourhood  held  Weekly  Meeting, 
worshipping  in  silence,  unless  the  Spirit  moved  one 
or  another  to  speak.  From  this,  delegates  were  sent 
to  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  the  district.  That,  in 
turn,  sent  delegates  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting  of  the 
whole  country;  and  above  that  was  the  great  Yearly 
Meeting.  By  a  system  of  written  questions  and  an- 
swers the  conduct  of  all  the  members  thus  passed  an 


0  t; 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH  COLONY  1 7/ 

annual  examination.  Those  who  failed  to  live  up 
to  the  standard  were  disciplined,  and  for  grave 
offences,  dismissed ;  yet  powerful  members  of  un- 
questionable devotion,  such  as  Penn  and  many 
others,  never  wholly  conformed.  Usually  one  who 
married  a  person  of  another  faith  was  put  "  out  of 
Meeting  "  immediately,  because  the  Society  could 
not  control  the  family  unless  both  parents  were 
members.  While  this  went  far  in  keeping  the  sect 
pure,  it  also  kept  down  its  numbers.  It  is  said  by 
Mr.  Fisher,  from  whom  these  details  are  taken : 

"  The  meetings  never  had  a  presiding  officer,  and  a 
question  was  never  put  to  vote.  The  clerk  or  secretary 
watched  the  discussion,  and  framed  a  resolution  which 
seemed  to  him  to  be  the  sense  of  the  meeting.  If  he 
failed  to  judge  aright,  the  debate  went  on,  he  framed 
another,  and  so  on,  until  debate  ceased,  showing  that  the 
sense  of  the  meeting  had  been  ascertained.  That  the 
result  .  .  .  was  remarkable  purity  of  morals  and 
innocence  of  life  it  is  impossible  to  deny,  although  it  is 
easy  to  see  a  great  deal  in  the  regulations  .  .  .  that 
seems  narrow,  belittling,  or  impolitic.  Many  customs 
seem  calculated  to  drive  away  able,  spirited  men  and  re- 
tain only  the  dull  and  commonplace.  Yet  it  is  astonish- 
ing how  many  remarkable  men  have  been  Quakers,  and 
it  is  also  curious  to  observe  that  most  of  them  became 
remarkable  by  disregarding  some  of  the  most  important 
regulations  of  the  sect.  In  most  countries  they  were 
very  retired.  But  in  Pennsylvania  they  were  responsible 
for  the  political  management  of  the  country.  Instead 
of  avoiding  politics  as  too  exciting  for  religious  contem- 
plation, they  took  a  very  active  part  in  them,  and  where 


1/8  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

they  found  even  their  cardinal  theories  against  oaths  and 
against  force  incompatible  with  the  welfare  of  the  govern- 
ment, they  let  go  the  theories." 

How  much  they  were  above  the  superstition  of 
their  time  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  records 
show  only  one  case  of  witchcraft,  a  woman,  who  was 
found  "  guilty  of  having  the  common  fame  of  being 
a  witch,  but  not  guilty  in  a  manner  and  form  as  she 
stands  indicted  ";  and  on  wdiom  no  judgment  was 
pronounced. 

The  Pennsylvania  Indians,  Shawanese,  and  Lenni- 
Lenapes,  afterwards  called  Delawares,  have  some- 
times been  described  as  so  cowed  by  the  Iroquois, 
who  claimed  them  as  vassals,  that  they  welcomed 
the  alliance  of  strangers;  but  Penn's  writings  show 
that  they  were  not  cordial  at  first;  and  long  after- 
ward, when  the  Pennsylvanians  and  the  Six  Nations 
abused  them,  they  were  enemies  to  be  feared.  Al- 
though Penn's  treatment  of  them  has  been  exagger- 
ated and  confused  sufficiently  to  produce  a  reaction 
against  him,  the  story  of  his  fairness  and  courtesy 
should  stand  out  clear  in  every  history.  He  added 
two  purchases  to  Markham's,  and  entered  upon 
the  famous  treaty  which  has  been  commemorated 
by  a  monument  as  having  taken  place  under  the 
great  elm  at  Sakimaxing  or  Shackamaxon,  now 
Kensington  in  Philadelphia.  As  Mr.  Fisher  says, 
it  has  been  "  exalted  and  embellished  by  historians 
and  painters,"  especially  in  the  "  pure  fiction  "  on 
the  canvas  of  Benjamin  West.  It  was  the  usual 
promise  that  the  savages'  trade  and  their  persons 


PENNSYLVANIA,    EIGHTH  COLONY  l8l 

were  to  be  respected,  "  and  complaints  on  either 
side  were  to  be  tried  by  a  mixed  jury  of  Indians  and 
white  men."  Neither  Penn  nor  his  friends  con- 
sidered that  he  was  doing  anything  sufficiently  re- 
markable to  be  worthy  of  special  record  ;  but  as  ten, 
fifteen,  twenty,  and  thirty  years  rolled  by,  and  the 
Indians  found  every  word  of  the  treaty  fulfilled  by 
Mignon,  as  the  Delawares  called  him,  or  Onas,  as 
he  was  called  by  the  Iroquois,  the  fame  of  the  one 
white  man  and  Christian  who  could  keep  his  faith 
with  the  savage  spread  far  and  wide.  In  France 
and  on  the  continent  of  Europe  the  great  men 
and  writers  seized  upon  it  as  the  most  remarkable 
occurrence  of  the  age.  Voltaire  was  delighted. 
From  that  time  he  loved  the  Quakers  and  even 
thought  of  going  to  Pennsylvania  to  live  among 
the  people,  who,  he  said,  made  the  only  treaty 
between  the  native  Americans  and  the  Christians 
that  was  not  ratified  by  an  oath  and  that  was  never 
broken. 

The  Moravians,  whose  faith  was  similar  to  that  of 
the  Quakers,  did  some  good  mission  work  among 
the  Indians;  but  the  pious  Friends,  who  also 
laboured  to  develop  the  inward  light,  could  never 
change  the  savage  view  that  life  was  made  up  of 
friendship  and  hatred,  other  names  for  peace  and 
war.  Nevertheless,  the  fairness  and  gentleness  of 
these  peculiar  white  men  toward  one  another  and 
toward  the  natives  made  so  great  an  impression 
that  it  has  lasted  to  our  own  times.  Mr.  Fisher  re- 
minds us  that  President  Grant  believed  that  it  would 
"  be  well  to  put  our  Indian  affairs  entirely  in  the 


1 82  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

hands  of  the  one  sect  for  which  the  savages  had  no 
contempt."  Besides  meeting  the  Delawares  and 
Shawanese,  entertaining  them, — and  in  some  of 
their  sports  out-jumping  them  all, — Penn  penetrated 
the  wilderness  to  the  Susquehanna  Valley,  making 
acquaintance  with  many  tribes  ranging  the  heart  of 
the  primeval  forests.  Like  many  others,  he  tried  in 
vain  to  restrain  the  sale  of  liquor  to  them,  and  to 
dissuade  them  from  using  it.  They  could  no  more 
keep  the  scum  of  the  earth  from  the  frontier  trading 
than  they  could  stop  the  savages'  thirst.  Indeed, 
says  old  Gordon,  "  whilst  they  frankly  confessed  the 
injurious  effect  of  it,  and  submitted  to  the  punish- 
ment their  drunken  acts  brought  upon  them,  thej^ 
would  not  on  any  account  give  it  up."  So  they 
courted  their  own  downfall  in  new  forms  of  disease 
and  death;  and  gradually  yielded  up  their  land, 
allowing  the  newcomers  to  make  them  presents  and 
take  care  of  them  till  the  more  robust  nations  called 
them  "  women." 

Barely  four  years  after  Penn  had  received  his 
charter,  the  province  and  territories  of  twenty-two 
townships  held  in  all  seventy-two  thousand  people, 
chiefly  English,,  Irish,  Welsh,  and  German,  besides 
the  earlier  Swedes  and  Dutch  ;  all  enjoying  civil  and 
religious  freedom.  It  was  the  most  fortunate  be- 
ginning of  any  colony  in  America.  It  had  suc- 
ceeded beyond  its  founder's  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tions; but  the  price  of  his  satisfaction  was  ^3000 
sterling  out  of  pocket,  and  further  serious  inroads 
on  his  private  fortune  by  an  unfaithful  steward  dur- 
in^T  his  absence  from  England.      While  on  this  brief 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH   COLONY  183 

visit  he  also  travelled  to  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and 
Maryland,  always  as  much  to  meet  Friends  and 
speak  for  them  as  to  see  the  country  and,  perhaps, 
to  be  able,  when  he  returned  to  England,  to  com- 
pliment the  proprietors  of  the  provinces.  Twice 
he  met  Baltimore,  but  found  his  lordship  inflexible 
about  his  boundaries;  after  a  year  or  so,  when  the 
baron  sailed  for  England  to  lay  the  matter  before 
the  King,  Penn  made  haste  to  follow  in  August, 
1684.  The  boundary  was  not  settled  for  seventy 
years.  Penn  succeeded  only  in  preventing  the 
King  from  confirming  Baltimore's  rights  upon  the 
Delaware;  and  as  the  territories  were  never  con- 
tented, he  gained  nothing  by  his  return  to  England 
that  could  possibly  compare  with  the  loss  of  his 
presence  in  his  fledgling  colony,  which,  with  all  his 
popularity,  he  could  not  control  three  thousand 
miles  away. 

During  the  next  ten  years,  when  the  population 
rose  beyond  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  Penn 
changed  the  government  six  times.  For  the  first 
three  or  four  years,  the  executive  power  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Council;  their  leader  being  the  Presi- 
dent, Thomas  Lloyd,  who  during  the  entire  decade 
was  next  to  Markham,  the  Secretary,  or  perhaps  be- 
fore him,  the  strongest  man  in  the  colony.  He  was 
a  native  of  Wales,  and  an  Oxford  man,  who  had 
left  preferment  in  England  for  "  mental  felicity  " 
and  Quaker  preaching  in  Pennsylvania.  Gordon 
says  "  he  was  universally  beloved  as  a  bright  ex- 
ample of  integrity."  But  the  course  of  his  govern- 
ment did  not  run  smoothly.      Mr.  Fisher  says: 


I  84  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

"  As  the  Assembly  had  not  been  allowed  to  originate 
bills,  they  were  determined  to  use  to  the  utmost  their 
power  to  reject  them  when  originated  by  the  Council. 
They  took  advantage  of  the  slightest  mistakes  the  Council 
made;  .  .  .  the  beginning  of  a  long  contest  by 
which  the  liberty  of  the  province  was  developed.  They 
worried  the  proprietorship  by  what  seem  very  trifling 
disputes;  but  in  fifty  years  the  result  was  large.  They 
had  a  great  advantage  in  the  custom  of  passing  laws 
which  should  be  in  force  only  one  year.  At  the  end  of 
the  year,  if  the  Council  would  not  yield  to  their  wishes, 
they  would  refuse  to  renew  the  laws,  which  was  in  effect 
to  threaten  to  leave  the  colony  without  any  laws  at  all. 
They  produced  a  deadlock  several  times  in  this  way,  to 
the  great  annoyance  of  Penn." 

In  1685,  when  the  death  of  Charles  II.  gave  the 
throne  to  his  openly  Catholic  brother,  James  II.,  to 
everyone's  wonder  his  Majesty  permitted  great 
numbers  of  his  richest  Quaker  victims  to  take 
refuge  in  the  province  of  his  favourite  without 
making  the  slightest  effort,  apparently,  to  force 
that  province  to  recant.  They  bought  great  tracts 
of  land,  and  set  up  both  their  city  and  country 
homes  and  their  industries  on  a  large  scale.  The 
colony  then  begged  Penn  to  return,  and  after  a  time 
he  said  he  might  consider  it,  "  if  my  table,  cellar, 
and  stable  may  be  provided  for,  with  a  barge  and  a 
yacht  or  sloop  for  the  service  of  governor  and  gov- 
ernment." But  the  colonists  in  those  days  failed 
to  show  him  common  justice,  to  say  nothing  of 
generosity.  They  were  scarcely  willing  to  pay 
their  quit-rents  or  the  imposts  they  had  voted  him. 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH   COLONY  1 85 

The  Assembly  neglected  his  requests  for  copies  of 
their  enactments;  even  his  letters  to  the  Council 
were  unanswered.  Nor  were  the  people  touched 
when  he  told  them  that  such  negligence  made  their 
constitution  forfeit,  and  that  merely  through  his 
forbearance  it  was  not  swept  away  to  punish  them. 
Penn's  generosity  was  equal  to  bearing  more  than 
this,  rather  than  suffer  the  wreck  of  his  undertaking. 
Seeing  that  the  eighteen  Councillors  were  weakened 
by  distributed  responsibilities,  he  reduced  their 
number  to  five,  with  Lloyd  still  at  their  head  ;  and 
again  after  two  years,  when  Lloyd  withdrew,  Penn 
acted  upon  his  recommendation  to  appoint  a  single 
deputy-governor.  But  his  choice  fell  on  the  most 
unlikely  person  to  please  the  Quakers,  Captain  John 
Blackwell,  a  Puritan  from  New  England,  known  to 
them  only  as  having  been  a  distinguished  officer  in 
Cromwell's  army.  Upon  undertaking  to  collect  the 
quit-rents,  of  which  Penn  was  in  desperate  need,  the 
good  Captain  was  accused  by  both  Council  and 
Assembly  of  "  arresting  the  improvement  of  the 
country  and  rendering  every  interest  dependent  on 
the  proprietary."  After  a  year  or  so  he  announced 
his  release,  saying,  "  I  have  given  and  do  unfeign- 
edly  give  God  thanks  for  it."  Patient  still,  Penn 
restored  the  authority  of  the  Council,  with  Thomas 
Lloyd  as  president,  but  this  arrangement  was  aban- 
doned after  a  year  and  Lloyd  was  Deputy-Governor 
for  a  few  months.  This  was  in  1692,  at  the  end  of 
the  decade  in  which  the  proprietor  had  changed  the 
government  six  times,  without  once  satisfying  his 
colony  ;  while  the  territories  had  practically  seceded 


1 86  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

and  formed  a  government  of  their  own  under 
Markham. 

A  much  more  serious  split  was  made  in  the 
Friends'  Society  by  the  expulsion  of  George  Keith, 
a  Scotchman,  who  had  been  an  honoured  member 
and  teacher  both  here  and  in  New  Jersey,  until  cer- 
tain conservative  Friends  declared  that  he  had  de- 
parted from  the  uniform  tone  of  peace,  good  works, 
and  salvation.  Many  upheld  him,  leaving  the  So- 
ciety when  he  was  expelled,  declaring  that  he  had 
the  true  Gospel  and  that  his  opponents  were  apos- 
tates, calling  themselves  the  Christian  Friends,  and 
setting  up  their  own  meeting-houses.  When  the 
Yearly  Meeting  in  London,  after  hearing  both  sides, 
condemned  Keith  and  his  following,  he  joined  the 
Church  of  England,  took  orders,  and  returned  to 
America  as  a  missionary  of  his  new  faith,  meeting 
with  no  little  success.  Bishop  Burnet,  who  was  a 
fellow-student  with  him  at  Aberdeen,  says  of  him, 
"Keith  was  the  most  learned  man  ever  in  the  Quaker 
sect,  well  versed  both  in  the  Oriental  tongues  and 
in  philosophy  and  mathematics." 

This  was  about  the  time  the  proprietor's  patron, 
James  II.,  was  overthrown  by  William  and  Mary; 
and  while  Penn  warned  his  people  that  their  ever- 
lasting wars  of  words  might  draw  upon  them  the 
unfavourable  attention  of  the  new  King,  who  had  a 
fancy  for  resuming  proprietary  charters,  the  blow 
that  he  feared  fell.  His  Majesty  stated  no  more 
than  the  truth  when  he  announced  that  during 
Penn's  absence  his  province  had  fallen  into  great 
disorder,  that  it  had  no  sort  of  military  defence,  and 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH   COLONY  1 8/ 

was  not  only  in  danger  itself,  but  presented  an  open- 
ing for  the  French  and  their  Indians  to  invade  the 
adjacent  colonies.  So,  while  Penn's  rights  in  the 
land  were  untouched,  his  government,  like  several 
others,  was  assumed  by  the  Crown  in  October,  1691  ; 
although,  more  fortunate  than  the  others,  it  was  re- 
stored, after  a  year  and  ten  months.  This  had  *'  the 
appearance  of  dealing  somewhat  severely  "  with 
Penn  and  gave  the  recalcitrant  colonists  a  taste  of 
much-needed  discipline  under  royal  orders,  adminis- 
tered by  the  wise  and  affable  Colonel  Benjamin 
Fletcher,  whose  widespread  authority  as  Captain- 
General  of  half  a  dozen  provinces  was  centred  at 
New  York.  As  Thomas  Lloyd  refused  to  serve 
under  Fletcher,  Markham  was  appointed  Deputy- 
Captain-General,  and  the  Assembly,  after  a  futile 
attempt  at  resistance,  settled  down  to  their  first  ex- 
perience in  the  great  colonial  barter  system  in  which 
the  Assembly's  votes  on  governor's  salary  and  aid 
for  the  Crown  wars  against  the  French  of  Canada 
were  exchanged  for  the  governor's  sanction  to 
measures  desired  by  the  people  and  not  by  the 
Crown. 

Penn  soon  cleared  himself  before  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil of  all  the  clouds  resting  upon  him  as  a  friend  and 
favourite  of  James  II.  Without  giving  up  his  faith, 
or  apparently  making  any  other  concession  than  the 
promise  of  ^350  from  his  colony  toward  fortifying 
the  New  York  frontier,  all  his  rights  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  territories  were  restored  to  him. 
Again  the  colonists  wanted  him  to  return,  but  not 
enough  to  furnish  the  ^10,000  he  said  he  needed. 


l88  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Unable  to  find  anyone  but  Markham  who  was  accept- 
able as  his  Deputy-Governor  to  both  the  province 
and  the  territories,  Penn  appointed  him,  with  two 
assistants  besides  the  Council  and  Assembly.  There 
was  a  return  of  the  old  wrangling  for  the  next  four 
years.  After  Markham  had  exhausted  his  resources, 
the  restless  Quakers  forced  him  to  give  them  a  com- 
plete new  frame  of  government,  including  all  the 
old  privileges  and  allowing  the  Assembly  to  sit  on 
their  own  adjournments,  as  well  as  to  share  with  the 
Council  the  power  to  originate  laws,  and  forbidding 
the  Governor  to  perform  any  act  touching  the  treas- 
ury or  trade  without  the  consent  of  a  majority  of 
the  Council. 

The  dominion  of  war-abhorring  Friends  over 
the  small  posts  of  the  territories,  as  well  as  over 
Philadelphia  with  all  the  neighbouring  creeks  and 
caves,  made  the  Delaware  a  favourite  resort  for  pri- 
vateers and  pirates;  and  many  said  they  were  dens 
of  vice.  Hearing  these  complaints,  and  having 
eased  his  money  troubles,  in  the  latter  part  of  1699 
Penn  brought  his  family  from  the  world  revolving 
round  *'  woefull  London,"  intending  to  spend  the 
rest  of  his  days  in  Pennsylvania,  though  this  too 
proved  but  a  two  years'  visit.  He  made  his  Phila- 
delphia home  in  the  celebrated  "  slate  roof  house," 
where  was  born  his  second  wife's  first  child,  John, 
— "  the  American,"  as  he  was  called, —  for  whom 
the  colonists  always  had  a  peculiar  attachment  and 
respect.  Nothing  in  colonial  history  has  more  pleas- 
ing colour  than  this  second  visit — Penn's  sessions 
with  Council  and  Assembly,  his  meetings  with  the 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH   COLONY  1 89 

Indians,  which  gave  them  pleasure  and  lasting  satis- 
faction, his  travels  on  horseback  into  the  interior  of 
the    province,   to   New   York,    and    Maryland,    his 
meetings  with  Friends  everywhere,  and  his  winning 
manners  among  all  men,  red  and  white,  high  and 
low.     At  Pennsbury  Manor  he  lived  with  his  fam- 
ily, it  is  said,  in  more  luxury  than  any  other  colonial 
governor  ever  supported.     When  he  chose  he  sent 
his  barge  down  to  the  capital,  twenty  miles  below, 
to  bring  the  Council  to  confer  and  to  dine  with  him. 
Impoverished    as   he    had    been    by    an    unfaithful 
steward  of  the  estates  his  father  had  left  him  in  Ire- 
land,   the   dissipations  of  his  oldest  son,   William, 
and  his  great  outlay  on  the  colony,  Penn  had  man- 
aged during  the  eighteen  years  since  his  first  visit  to 
spend  some  ;^5000  on  Pennsbury,  building  a  great 
brick  mansion,  wainscotted  with  English  oak,  and 
supplied  with  many  guest  chambers  and  a  hall  for 
the  meetings  of  his  Council  or  the  entertainment  of 
Indians.     The  living  rooms  were  richly  furnished  in 
Turkey    work,    plushes,   satins,  and    even    carpets, 
which  were  enjoyed  by   few  but  princes  in  those 
days.     The  house  was  upon  an  estate  beautified  by 
a  landscape-gardener  from   Europe,  with  parterres 
of  imported  plants  and  of  the  wild  flowers  of  the 
country  which  were  carefully  cultivated.     From  its 
lawns  and  terraces  paths  led  to  beautiful  vistas  in 
the  forest ;  an  avenue  of  poplars  ran  down  to  the 
river;  while  in  the  rear  were  kitchen,  wash-house, 
and  other  buildings  used  by  the  servants.     There 
were  a  brew-house  and  "  six  vessels  called  cisterns 
for   holding   water   or   beer,"   besides   cellars  well 


190  THE  THIRTEEN   COLO X IE S 

stocked  with  canary,  claret,  and  sack,  as  well  as  the 
master's  favourite  madeira.  F'riend  though  he  was, 
he  felt  that  all  this  was  due  his  father's  son  and  the 
proprietor  of  the  province ;  even  when  he  ran  in 
debt  for  it  he  believed  that  his  position  demanded 
the  extravagance  and  that  he  balanced  the  account 
with  generous  charities  and  with  a  personal  kindli- 
ness. Among  many  pretty  stories  of  his  thought- 
fulness  is  one  of  his  picking  up  a  strange  barefoot 
child  on  the  road  and  carrying  her  behind  him  on 
his  horse  to  Meeting.  His  stable  held  twelve  horses. 
There  were  blooded  mares  and  stallions  for  the 
benefit  of  the  province,  saddle-horses  for  his  Vvife 
and  children,  a  great  family  coach  and  a  calash. 
Moreover,  he  dressed  with  the  elegance  of  the  Court 
he  had  frequented  in  England,  encouraged  dancing, 
and  outdoor  sports  with  the  Indians,  and  remem- 
bered that  Charles  II.  had  made  him  military  com- 
mander as  well  as  proprietor  and  governor  of  his 
colony.  No  doubt  he  set  an  example  which  many 
of  the  rich  merchants  of  his  province  followed;  for 
it  was  said  in  later  years  that  the  elegance  of  dress 
and  entertainment  in  the  province  was  equal  to  any 
in  Europe. 

But  Penn  with  all  this  was  a  far-seeing  colonial 
statesman.  In  that  day,  when  charter  liberties  were 
falling  under  the  hand  of  William  III.,  he  granted 
Philadelphia  a  city  charter,  dated  October  25,  1701  ; 
and  three  days  later  gave  the  province  a  new  consti- 
tution even  more  liberal  than  the  first  one.  The 
latter  was  granted  on  the  colonists'  urgent  demand. 
It  was  modelled  on  '*  Markham's  P^rame, "  and  was 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH  COLONY  191 

worked  out  after  a  year  and  a  half  of  consultation 
with  Council  and  Assembly.  The  proprietor  was 
Governor,  with  or  without  a  deputy;  a  Council, 
though  not  demanded  by  the  constitution,  was  ap- 
pointed by  Penn  and  his  heirs  after  him  ;  and  the 
people's  Assembly  was  vested  with  all  important 
powers,  even  to  adjourn  and  meet  as  they  saw  fit 
and  to  control  the  judiciary.  With  all  these  liber- 
ties, and  freedom  of  conscience  more  secure  than 
ever,  Pennsylvania  prospered  without  change  of 
government  for  seventy-five  years,  until  the  Revolu- 
tion. Many  bids  were  made  for  the  satisfaction  of 
the  territories,  while  leave  was  granted  them  to 
withdraw  if  they  wished  to  after  three  years  —  of 
which  they  promptly  availed  themselves,  and  set 
up  their  own  legislature,  never  again  uniting  with 
that  of  the  province,  though  they  were  always  under 
the  same  governor. 

There  were  many  measures  above  the  tone  of  the 
times,  especially  one  giving  the  slaves  the  right  to 
trial  and  civil  judgment  in  place  of  the  will  of  their 
masters.  Thirteen  years  before,  the  Mennonites  of 
German  Town  had  petitioned  the  Quakers  against 
holding  slaves;  they  seem  to  have  been  the  first 
Abolitionists  in  America.  The  Friends'  Society 
discouraged  the  trade  among  the  richest  and  most 
respectable  colonists,  and  took  upon  themselves  to 
help  the  blacks  **  whose  masters  were  not  yet  con- 
vinced .of  the  iniquity  of  it  ";  but  it  was  not  until  a 
quarter  of  a  century  later  that  the  Quakers  began 
their  most  powerful  opposition  to  slavery. 

With  the  Indians  the  same  courses  were  followed. 


192  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Penn  still  setting  a  shining  example  for  good.  He 
bought  the  Susquehanna  Valley  of  the  Six  Nations 
through  Governor  Dongan,  of  New  York  ;  but  when 
the  local  tribes,  whom  the  Iroquois  claimed  as  vas- 
sals, complained  to  Penn  that  their  rights  in  the 
land  had  been  ignored,  he  heard  their  story  out,  and 
while  showing  them  the  deed  for  his  purchase,  he 
offered  to  pay  them  a  sort  of  indemnity  and  hence- 
forth to  hold  the  land  in  common  with  them.  This 
fairness  so  won  their  regard  that  they  gave  him  an- 
other deed  confirming  the  sale,  and  attached  them- 
selves with  complete  devotion  to  him  as  long  as  he 
lived,  and  to  his  widow  after  him. 

When  the  new  constitution  was  adopted  the  As- 
sembly might  have  chosen  their  own  deputy-gov- 
ernor, but  they  declined  the  honour,  and  Penn 
appointed  the  admirable  Andrew  Hamilton,  for- 
merly Governor  of  both  East  and  West  Jersey.  He 
was  the  first  of  the  ten  deputy-governors  during  the 
seventy-five  years  that  Pennsylvania  remained  a 
British  province,  a  line  of  men  far  from  perfect,  but 
equally  far  above  the  average  of  royal  governors. 
For  Provincial  Secretary  and  Clerk  of  the  Council 
Penn  appointed  the  Scotch  Quaker  James  Logan, 
who  had  come  over  with  him,  and  who  for  over  fifty 
years  was  the  strongest  man  in  the  province.  He 
was  also  Chief-Justice,  and  Penn's  principal  land  and 
confidential  agent.  At  Stenton,  his  country-seat, 
he  collected  a  large  library  of  the  classics  and  im- 
portant works  on  science  and  art  in  many  languages, 
which  he  left  at  his  death  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 

Penn  and  his  family  returned  to  England  about 


PENNSYLVANIA,    EIGHTH   COLONY  1 93 

the  time  of  Queen  Anne's  accession;  and  although 
his  was  one  of  the  principal  provinces  aimed  at  in 
the  efforts  then  afoot  to  induce  her  Majesty  to 
make  all  the  colonies  more  closely  dependent  on 
the  Crown,  she  allowed  her  father's  favourite  to 
pay  his  homage  at  Court  as  usual  and  to  guard  the 
interests  of  his  province  and  his  sect.  He  even  in- 
duced her  Majesty  to  remove  from  Pennsylvania 
Colonel  Quarry,  her  judge  of  the  Admiralty,  because 
in  his  zeal  for  the  Church  of  England  he  had  com- 
plained of  the  Quakers'  anti-war  methods,  and  even 
misrepresented  Hamilton  when  he  was  raising  a 
military  company  in  Philadelphia— the  first  in  the 
province. 

Another  prominent  character  on  the  colonial  stage 
was  the  Welsh  lawyer,  David  Lloyd,  attorney- 
general  and  councillor,  who  in  an  hour  of  bitterness 
forgot  the  kindness  that  he  and  his  family  had  re- 
ceived from  Penn,  and  drew  around  him  a  "  popular 
party,"  to  thwart  the  proprietor,  exercising  so  much 
influence  in  the  Assembly  and  out  of  it  that  for 
nearly  thirty  years  he  had  the  name  of  helping  to 
frame  and  giving  a  Welsh  flavour  to  the  laws.  Poor 
Penn  had  bad  luck  with  Welsh  blood  in  those  years. 
Young  John  Evans,  whom  he  sent  out  in  1704  as 
his  Deputy-Governor,  on  Hamilton's  death,  com- 
mitted in  his  four  years  of  office  almost  every  public 
and  private  offence  possible  to  a  volatile,  impetuous, 
haughty,  dissipated  boy  of  six-and-twenty  on  a  sud- 
den accession  to  power.  What  was  worse,  he  had 
Penn's  disreputable  eldest  son  William  to  help  him 
on.     But    none  of   these   irritations   can    form  any 


194  THE   TJIIRIEEN   COLONIES 

excuse  for  the  Assembly's  selfishness  and  lack  of  in- 
telligence. The  best  of  their  few  acts  of  apparent 
benevolence  proved  a  curse  to  the  colony.  This 
was  the  appointment  of  guardians  of  the  poor,  paid 
from  funds  furnished  by  bills  of  credit.  Under  it, 
the  almshouse  of  Philadelphia  became  a  powerful 
magnet,  attracting  to  the  city  much  of  the  crime 
engendered  by  slavery  in  other  colonies,  and  all  the 
poverty  which  had  a  shadow  of  legal  claim  to  re- 
lief. The  Quakers  put  off  the  payment  of  all  their 
money  obligations  to  Penn,  though  they  had  been 
freely  undertaken;  and  black  ingratitude  seems  not 
too  hard  a  name  for  their  refusal  to  make  an  effort 
to  aid  him  when  his  embarrassments  brought  him 
within  the  Fleet  prison,  from  which  he  released  him- 
self in  1708  by  mortgaging  the  province. 

Colonel  Charles  Gookin,  "  a  soldier  weary  of 
war,"  of  tactful  manner,  steady  conduct,  and  eco- 
nomical habits,  displaced  Evans  in  1709,  to  hold 
office  for  the  next  nine  years.  The  records  of  the 
Assembly  read  like  the  chronicle  of  unreasonable 
children.  They  heaped  up  futile  grievances  against 
him,  and  repeatedly  refused  to  raise  for  the  attack 
on  Quebec  the  quota  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  men 
and  their  officers  requested  by  the  Queen,  saying 
that  they  could  not  in  conscience  provide  money  to 
hire  men  to  kill  each  other;  but  they  offered  to 
make  her  Majesty  a  present  of  i^soo. 

At  length  Penn  wrote  the  Assembly  a  letter  set- 
ting forth  all  he  had  done  for  the  colonists  and  their 
own  behaviour,  and  telling  them  that  if,  after  a  fair 
election,  the  Assembly  were  not   more  favourably 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH   COLONY  195 

disposed,  he  would  convey  the  jurisdiction  to  the 
Crown.  That  brought  the  people  to  their  senses. 
From  that  time  on,  says  Gordon,  "  the  voice  of 
complaint  was  hushed,  whilst  the  manifold  blessings 
they  enjoyed  were  frankly  acknowledged."  Regu- 
lar and  competent  revenues  were  maintained  for 
years,  arrears  of  taxes  collected,  public  debts  li- 
quidated and  paid  ;  satisfactory  courts  were  erected 
and  the  fees  of  the  several  officers  fixed  by  law; 
and  on  the  Queen's  request  for  their  quota  they 
promptly  raised  ;^2000,  as  a  token  of  their  duty  and 
an  equivalent  for  their  men,  while  compensation  was 
paid  to  masters  whose  servants  enlisted  in  the  New 
Jersey  forces.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Assem- 
bly distinguished  Pennsylvania  by  a  law  for  the  abo- 
lition of  slavery,  which,  to  the  colony's  great  regret, 
Anne  annulled. 

This  Assembly  stood  for  half,  at  most,  of  the  popu- 
lation, representing  only  the  Welsh,  English,  and 
rare  Scotch  Quakers,  besides  German  and  Dutch 
Mennonites  and  French  Huguenots  of  German 
Town,  with  a  few  others  who  had  been  enfranchised. 
Thousands  who  did  not  wish  to  vote  had  come  in 
with  the  great  immigrations  of  Queen  Anne's  reign, 
some  of  them  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians,  some  Ger- 
mans, not  only  members  of  scores  of  small  sects  more 
or  less  similar  to  the  Friends,  but  hundreds  of  the  per- 
secuted Lutheran  and  Reformed  churches — "  Queen 
Anne's  Palatines,"  as  they  were  called.  Some  had 
lingered  in  Philadelphia,  opened  shops,  and  hung 
out  their  German  signs;  more  had  tarried  in  German 
Town;  but  most  of  them   had  hurried  to  take  up 


196  THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

the  rich  farm  lands  of  the  inland  rivers,  asking  only 
to  be  let  alone,  and  willingly  leaving  the  Quakers 
to  govern  the  province  in  their  own  way.  Some  of 
the  most  interesting  of  the  detailed  pictures  which 
this  general  story  must  needs  pass  by  are  of  these 
diverse  and  unique  groups  of  Pennsylvania  Dutch. 
This  was  well  enough  while  Queen  Anne's  toleration 
allowed  the  Friends  to  govern  in  peace.  But  when 
George  I.  took  up  the  sceptre  of  Great  Britain,  he 
promptly  gave  them  a  blow  with  it  by  extending  to 
America  the  act  disqualifying  Quakers  from  giving 
evidence  in  any  criminal  case,  serving  on  juries,  or 
holding  any  place  of  profit  in  the  government.  It 
was  an  edict  well  adapted  to  produce  consternation, 
and  to  make  a  trying  scene  for  the  Governor  who 
gave  the  notice.  But  Gookin,  whose  temper  had 
not  worn  well  under  his  cares,  made  matters  worse 
by  declaring  that  his  Majesty's  order  immediately 
repealed  the  law  of  the  province,  and  disqualified 
the  Quakers  then  in  office.  This  ended  in  a  general 
broil  and  Gookin's  displacement. 

In  May,  17 14,  the  province  received  the  best 
deputy  it  had  had  in  Sir  William  Keith,  who  gov- 
erned for  nine  years.  He  was  a  Scotchman  of  excel- 
lent family  and  education,  experienced  in  America 
as  Crown  Surveyor  of  the  Customs  of  the  Southern 
Provinces,  and  known  in  Pennsylvania  as  a  friend  of 
Logan.     Mr.  Fisher  says, 

"  every  circumstance  marked  him  out  as  the  man  above 
all  others  for  the  post;  he  immediately  became  so  popu- 
lar that  tlie  Assembly  gave  him  authority  to  establish  the 


PENNSYLVANIA,    EIGHTH   COLONY  1 97 

things  they  most  disliked  the  thought  of, —  a  court  of 
chancery  and  a  militia.  The  colonists  were  very  liberal 
to  him  in  the  matter  of  salary,  and  in  Philadelphia  as 
well  as  at  his  country-seat  at  Horsham  he  maintained  a 
state  equalled  by  no  other  deputy-governor  before  his 
time,  and  excelled  only  by  Penn,  the  proprietor." 

Poor  Penn,  meantime,  was  in  his  last  illness.  He 
had  been  goaded  by  poverty  into  offering  his  gov- 
ernment for  sale,  but  had  not  quite  come  to  the 
point  of  accepting  the  Crown  terms,  which  required 
that  he  should  annul  his  constitution  of  1702,  on 
the  plea  that  it  gave  the  people  so  much  power  as 
to  make  the  government  scarcely  worth  the  pur- 
chase. The  matter  still  hung  fire  when  Penn  died, 
on  July  30,  1718.  He  bequeathed  Pennsylvania  to 
his  widow,  her  father  Thomas  Callowhill,  and  others, 
in  trust  for  her  children,  after  the  payment  of  debts 
and  some  legacies  to  his  first  wife's  children.  The 
government  of  both  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  was 
conveyed  by  the  will  to  three  earls  in  trust,  for  the 
purpose  of  completing  the  sale  to  the  Crown ;  but 
they  declined  to  do  anything  until  the  case  was 
settled  in  Chancery,  which  was  not  until  nine  years 
later. 

The  profligate  William,  who  was  the  heir-at-law, 
attempted  several  times  to  assume  the  rights  of  pro- 
prietary governor,  without  commanding  any  atten- 
tion. He  died  about  two  years  after  his  father, 
leaving  a  son,  Springett,  then  a  minor,  as  heir-at- 
law.  At  that  time  and  for  the  rest  of  her  life  (fif- 
teen   years    in    all),    the    proprietary    affairs   were 


198  THE  THlRrEEN   COLONIES 

managed  by  the  founder's  widow.  Mr.  Fisher 
aptly  says:  "  Mrs.  Penn  became  in  effect  the  owner 
of  both  the  land  and  the  government  as  executrix 
and  guardian  of  the  children,  probably  the  only  in- 
stance in  history  of  a  woman  occupying  the  feudal 
office  of  lord  proprietor  of  such  a  great  province." 

Governor  Keith  helped  Mrs.  Penn's  rule,  and  so 
increased  her  wealth  by  quit-rents  and  sales  of  land 
that  she  rapidly  freed  herself  from  the  vast  burden 
of  Penn's  mortgage  on  the  province  and  other  debts. 
Of  all  his  measures  the  greatest  perhaps  was  his 
urging,  against  much  opposition,  the  issue  of  paper 
money.  Immigration  was  then  pouring  in  from 
almost  all  parts  of  Europe.  Some  of  the  newcomers 
were  poor  and  oppressed  people,  the  victims  of  po- 
litical changes  or  religious  intolerance,  who  bound 
themselves  as  servants  for  a  few  years  in  order  to 
become  citizens  of  a  free  country.  Others  were 
vagrants  and  felons;  and  although  the  Assembly 
imposed  a  duty  of  £^  upon  every  convicted  felon 
brought  into  the  province,  the  importer  having  to 
give  security  for  his  good  behaviour  for  a  year,  they 
came  in  such  great  numbers  that  the  colony  was 
soon  embarrassed  by  having  more  men  than  could 
find  work,  and  more  produce  than  could  find  a  mar- 
ket. A  number  of  other  inconveniences  followed, 
especially  a  scarcity  of  corn;  for  trade  was  confined 
to  British  ports,  and  payments  were  made  mostly 
by  exchange.  Relief  was  felt  at  once  from  the  issue 
of  paper  money,  more  sparingly  done  than  in  some 
of  the  colonies  embarrassed  by  it.  It  proved 
so  successful   that,   althoueh   it  was  "  one    of    the 


PENNSYLVANIA,    EIGHTH   COLONY  1 99 

regulation  subjects  of  dispute,"  it  was  issued  contin- 
uously for  the  next  fifty  years,  or  during  the  rest  of 
the  life  of  the  province,  and  was  "  always  sound  and 
of  steady  value  for  all  purposes  of  trade." 

Keith  joined  with  the  ablest  men  of  the  colony  in 
well-judged  measures  for  their  industrial  prosperity, 
guarding  against  the  evils  of  over-production  of 
their  staples,  and  making  stringent  laws  to  increase 
home  consumption  of  some  products  and  export  of 
others.  Special  attention  was  given  to  the  making 
of  flour,  accompanied  by  severe  inspection  laws 
which  established  its  standard  of  excellence.  To 
this  policy  the  province  owed  a  great  increase  of 
population  and  wealth.  A  high  standard  was  also 
set  in  the  preparation  of  salted  provisions,  and  a 
valuable  trade  in  them  built  up  in  the  West  Indies. 

In  the  full  tide  of  his  success,  Keith  saw  fit  to  ig- 
nore the  powers  of  the  Council,  which  were  custom- 
ary and  not  constitutional;  but  he  went  a  step  too 
far  when  on  some  difference  of  opinion  with  James 
Logan,  a  tried  and  trusted  officer  of  the  Penn  fam- 
ily, he  not  only  turned  him  out  of  the  Council,  but 
also  ousted  him  from  his  post  as  Secretary  of  the 
province.  Logan  went  to  England  at  once,  and 
returned  with  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Penn  demanding 
his  reinstatement.  Then  Keith  cut  off  his  own 
head  by  turning  to  the  Assembly  to  support  his 
resistance.  They  had  honoured  him  as  they  never 
honoured  another  governor  by  a  vote  of  thanks  for 
the  successful  measures  which  had  raised  Pennsyl- 
vania to  its  highest  point  of  prosperity,  and  they 
now  boldly  stood   up  for  him  —  but  only  until  they 


200  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

heard  that  Mrs.  Perm  had  recalled  him.  Then 
they  cooled  off  at  once,  and  publicly  disparaged 
him,  to  make  their  welcome  to  the  new  governor 
more  cordial.  Keith  had  some  staunch  friends, 
who  sent  him  to  the  Assembly;  but  there  he  was 
accused  of  efforts  to  upset  the  proprietary  govern- 
ment. After  a  couple  of  years  he  fled  to  England 
from  his  creditors,  published  a  pamphlet  on  the 
colonies,  and  won  the  name  of  being  the  first  to  pro- 
pose Crown  taxation  on  them.  He  died  a  prisoner 
for  debt  in  the  Old  Bailey. 

The  new  Deputy-Governor,  who  came  out  at  mid- 
summer of  1726, — the  first  year  of  George  II. 's  reign, 
—  was  Patrick  Gordon,  a  soldier  then  eighty-two 
years  of  age,  "  a  discreet  old  man  calmed  by  vicissi- 
tudes," whose  happy  administration  of  ten  years  was 
closed  by  his  death.  Within  his  first  year  or  so  the 
long  suspense  of  the  Chancery  suit  was  settled. 
Penn's  agreement  to  sell  the  province  to  the  Crown 
was  declared  void,  and  the  government  and  territory 
of  Pennsylvania  were  acknowledged  as  the  property 
of  Springett  Penn,  to  pass  from  him  to  his  father's 
half-brothers.  Since  he  was  a  minor,  the  widow, 
confirmed  as  executrix,  retained  her  prudent  con- 
trol for  the  remaining  four  years  of  his  life,  surviv- 
ing him  long  enough  to  see  her  own  sons  become 
proprietaries. 

Gordon,   to  quote  Mr.   Fisher,  said  that  he  was 

convinced   by  what   he   saw   and   heard  that  the 

paper  money   had   been   a  benefit    not   only  to  the 

colony  but  also  to  England.    The  importations  from 

England  had  greatly  increased.      More  ships  were 


PENNSYLVANIA,   EIGHTH   COLONY  20I 

built;  and  the  currency,  instead  of  depreciating,  as 
it  had  in  the  other  colonies,  had  actually  risen  in 
value.  Moreover,  the  colonists  had  helped  the  situa- 
tion by  establishing  iron-furnaces  and  cultivating 
hemp,  which  enabled  them  to  check  the  drain  of 
their  gold  and  silver  to  England." 

In  spite  of  these  facts,  the  Privy  Council  opposed 
the  Assembly's  wish  to  issue  more  of  the  currency, 
and  there  was  a  famous  wrangle  before  th^  Quakers 
had  their  way.  Benjamin  Franklin  then  first  came 
upon  the  stage  of  Pennsylvania  politics,  advocating 
the  issue  in  a  pamphlet,  "  full  of  fallacies,"  but 
''  absurdly  praised  "  at  the  time,  entitled  TJie  Nature 
and  Necessity  of  a  Paper  Currency.  Franklin  was 
then  twenty-three  years  old,  educating  himself,  and 
drawing  round  him  a  set  of  thoughtful  young  men, 
while  earning  his  living  as  foreman  in  a  printing- 
shop.  At  about  the  same  time,  when  Parliament 
attempted  to  confine  the  colonies'  purchase  of  West 
India  produce  wholly  to  the  English  islands,  the 
Assembly  appointed  Ferdinando  John  Paris  their 
permanent  agent  in  England.  Hitherto  the  pro- 
prietor's interests  only  had  been  represented;  and 
the  colonists'  laws  had  gone  before  the  Crown  and 
often  been  repealed  without  a  word  of  explanation. 
The  advantages  of  Paris's  presence  in  England  were 
so  manifest  that  no  complaints  of  the  charge  of 
maintaining  him,  which  some  declared  burdensome, 
could  induce  the  Assembly  to  do  without  him. 
This  was  on  the  eve  of  Mrs.  Penn's  death  in  1733, 
when  her  surviving  sons  became  proprietors  and 
changed  the  old  order  of  Friends'  rule. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    OLD    ORDER   CHANGES 

THE  decline  of  Quaker  control,  and  of  much  of 
Penn's  high-principled  management,  began  at 
once  under  the  proprietorship  of  his  sons,  John, 
the  American,"  Thomas,  and  Richard.  The  two 
elder  brothers  soon  came  to  the  province.  John, 
the  more  popular  and  more  generous  of  them,  was 
obliged  to  return  after  a  few  months,  for  the  same 
reason  that  had  made  his  father  cut  short  his  first 
visit — trouble  with  Lord  Baltimore  over  the  Mary- 
land boundary.  Thomas  remained  for  nine  years, 
sitting  in  the  Council;  and,  as  Mr.  Fisher  says,  in  a 
narrow  way  taking  an  active  interest  in  the  affairs 
of  the  colony  as  the  business  man  of  the  family;  so 
that  people  called  him  the  proprietor  as  if  there 
were  no  others.  His  name  was  not  loved;  his  deeds 
were  not  exalted ;  but  we  are  reminded  that — 

"  He  was  in  the  extraordinary  position  of  having  the 
rights  and  powers  of  a  feudal  lord  hundreds  of  years 
after  all  the  reasons  for  the  feudal  system  had  ceased  to 
exist,  and  of  having  to  exercise  those  rights  in  a  new  and 

202 


THOMAS   PENN. 


203 


THE    OLD   ORDER    CHANGES  205 

wild  country  ...  to  control  a  rapidly  increasing 
population  of  nearly  half  a  million  English,  Scotch-Irish, 
and  Germans,  filled  with  the  most  advanced  ideas  of 
liberty  and  jealous  of  interference  ...  to  collect 
from  the  lands  they  occupied  the  purchase-money,  rent, 
and  interest  of  a  great  estate  rapidly  rolling  up  into 
millions  of  pounds  of  value.  He  had  to  arrange  for 
treaties  with  the  Indians  and  the  purchase  of  their  title 
to  land,  and  to  fight  off  the  boundary  disputes  of  Con- 
necticut, Maryland,  and  Virginia,  which  threatened  to 
reduce  his  domain  to  a  .  .  .  narrow  strip  of  land 
containing  neither  Philadelphia  nor  Pittsburg." 

Perhaps  this  work  would  have  been  easier  if  the 
family  had  spent  the  wealth  which  the  province 
yielded  them  upon  mansions  and  country-seats  and 
the  pleasures  of  the  great  in  Pennsylvania;  but 
Pennsylvania  was  a  crude  and  lonely  place  for 
which  to  forsake  the  best  that  England  afforded. 
The  mother-country  was  the  home  of  the  family  and 
there  they  spent  their  millions.  Thomas,  at  Stoke 
Park,  and  his  son  John,  at  Pennsylvania  Castle, 
maintained  two  of  the  most  magnificent  estates  in 
the  realm.  Franklin  estimated  that  the  proprietary 
possessions  were  worth  ten  million  pounds,  and 
yielded  over  half  a  million  a  year.  Although  this 
estimate  is  greater  than  the  extant  accounts  show, 
the  yearly  income  may  have  been  equal  to  two  and 
a  half  millions  of  dollars  in  our  own  day,  and  the 
value  of  the  whole  estate  to  not  less  than  fifty 
millions. 

In  the  early  days  of  Thomas  Penn's  proprietor- 
ship,   while  Gordon's   peaceful   administration   still 


206  THE   THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

continued,  the  first  step  was  taken  towards  welding 
together  the  many  sects  and  nationahties  comprised 
within  the  province  by  an  act  of  general  naturalisa- 
tion, admitting  all  Christians  who  owned  allegiance 
to  the  British  Crown  and  the  Pennsylvania  govern- 
ment. On  the  other  hand,  a  poll-tax  was  laid  upon 
all  aliens  imported,  owing  to  the  fact  that  a  regular 
traffic  had  sprung  up  in  the  transportation  of  thou- 
sands, especially  from  Germany,  who  were  wretch- 
edly poor,  diseased,  and  illiterate,  and  who,  moreover, 
refused  to  send  their  children  to  school  and  were 
brutally  indifferent  to  the  rights  both  of  colonists 
and  Indians.  Anxiety  enough  was  caused  by  the 
more  prosperous  Germans,  pious,  industrious,  regu- 
lar in  tax-paying,  and  faithful  to  the  Quaker  gov- 
ernment as  they  were.  German  Town  had  become  a 
powerful  centre  for  all  the  Germans  in  America  as  a 
distinct  race,  keeping  up  their  language,  traditions, 
and  customs.  The  large  sect  of  Tunkers,  corrupted 
into  Dunkers,  Dunkards,  Tumplers,  or  Dumplers, 
the  Pietists,  and  other  religious  societies  that  re- 
moved bodily  to  the  province,  joined  the  Mennon- 
ites  in  establishing  German  schools  and  a  printing- 
press,  from  which  was  issued  the  first  German  Bible 
printed  in  this  country,  the  first  German  newspaper, 
and  an  almanac  of  even  more  influence.  These 
were  published  and  the  type,  paper,  ink,  and  bind- 
ing made  by  Christopher  Sauer,  a  Tunker  elder, 
who  also  practised  as  a  physician  and  sold  medi- 
cines, and  was  a  man  of  strong  character  and  influ- 
ence. It  was  no  small  matter  that  this  race  feeling 
should  be  cherished   so   carefully  among   a   people 


THE    OLD   ORDER    CHANGES  207 

who  far  outnumbered  the  Quakers,  and  most  of 
whom  could  not  be  induced  even  by  the  German 
Town  leaders  to  educate  their  children  in  any 
language. 

The  Quakers  then  or  soon  afterwards  were  out- 
numbered by  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  as  well, 
who  also  kept  to  themselves  and  were  as  determined 
as  the  Germans  to  educate  their  children  in  nothing 
but  industry,  morals,  and  religion.  These  two 
races,  holding  aloof  from  the  governing  people,  al- 
ready formed  the  bulk  of  the  population  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, which  doubled  its  numbers  every  few  years 
till  the  youngest  of  the  provinces  outstripped  all  the 
others  but  Massachusetts,  Maryland,  and  Virginia, 
and  was  soon  to  leave  its  near  southern  neigrhbour 
behind.  The  evil  of  this  was  that  no  authority 
could  control  the  flood  of  these  people  that  surged 
into  the  forests,  building  cabins  on  the  first  land 
they  fancied.  The  laws  of  the  province  were  strict 
against  violation  of  the  Indians'  rights,  which  had 
been  many  times  confirmed  by  treaties  and  other 
agreements ;  but  the  authorities  could  not  keep  their 
purchases  ahead  of  the  newcomers;  and  the  ordin- 
ary ScotchTrish  or  German  frontiersman  considered 
it  absurd,  Mr.  Fisher  says, 

"  that  good,  rich  land  which  would  support  a  family  of 
white  people  and  Christians  should  not  be  cleared  and 
cultivated  because  a  band  of  roving,  drunken,  dirty 
savages  claimed  it.  .  .  .  He  went  out  on  the  land, 
believing  that  the  government  would  be  sensible  and 
allow  him  to  remain.     .     .     .     The  government  disliked 


208  THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

the  expense  and  trouble,"  to  say  nothing  of  the  unpopu- 
larity, attendant  on  "  removing  settlers  and  burning 
their  cabins.  .  .  .  So  the  settlers  generally  remained, 
and  the  land  was  in  time  bought  of  the  Indians." 

But  in  one  of  the  most  important  of  these  pur- 
chases from  the  angry  Indians,  Thomas  Penn  made 
the  first  break  in  his  father's  carefully  forged  chain 
of  friendship  with  them.  This  was  the  famous 
Walking  Purchase  of  1737,  which  was  supposed  to 
be  the  confirmation  of  a  deed  given  to  the  founder 
for  a  tract  of  land  north-west  of  Wright  Town,  a 
few  miles  back  from  the  Delaware  and  about  par- 
allel to  it  as  far  as  a  man  could  walk  in  a  day  and 
a  half.  The  proprietors  not  only  selected  to  do 
the  walking  the  swiftest  woodsmen  that  could  be 
found;  but  had  the  ground  surveyed,  the  trees 
marked,  and  a  party  on  horseback  ready  with  every- 
thing possible  to  speed  the  walk.  Some  Indians 
who  went  with  them  in  the  interests  of  their  nation 
soon  complained  that  the  walkers  were  running  and 
finally  dropped  out  in  disgust.  The  Lehigh  River, 
which  the  Indians  had  expected  would  be  the  limit 
of  the  walk,  was  reached  before  the  end  of  the  first 
day;  and  when  the  time  was  up  the  next  day,  the 
walkers  were  thirty  miles  beyond  it.  Still  worse,  the 
boundary  of  this  purchase,  which  was  to  have  been 
drawn  from  the  end  of  the  walk  directly  to  the  Dela- 
ware, "  was  slanted  upward  for  a  long  distance  so 
as  to  include  the  whole  of  the  valuable  Minisink 
country,"  then  commonly  called  the  Forks  of  the 
Delaware,  which  the  Pennsylvanians  greatly  coveted 


THE   OLD   ORDER    CHANGES  211 

and  the  Indians  were  unwilling  to  sell.  As  the  red 
men  "never  forgot  the  kindness  and  justice  of  Penn, 
so  they  never  forgot  this  treachery  of  his  sons;  and 
in  a  few  years  the  mutilated  bodies  and  scalps  of 
hundreds  of  women  and  children  .  .  .  told  the 
tale." 

When  Deputy-Governor  Gordon  died  at  the  ripe 
age  of  ninety-one,  the  Assembly  compelled  the  pro- 
prietors to  allow  the  Court  of  Chancery,  which  Keith 
had  established  some  twenty  years  before,  to  die 
with  him.  Lord  Baltimore's  claim  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Delaware  kept  the  next  deputy  from  taking 
office  for  two  years,  during  which  time  there  was  a 
bloody  settlers'  quarrel  near  the  boundary  of  Mary- 
land. But  at  length  this  long  dispute  was  com- 
promised, and  George  Thomas,  a  rich  planter  of 
Antigua,  began  his  eight  years'  term  in  1738  by 
crossing  the  people's  temper.  His  blundering  was 
chiefly  in  his  efforts  to  force  the  Quaker  Assembly 
to  vote  aid  to  the  King  in  the  Spanish  war,  which 
broke  out  in  1739.  The  Assembly  gave  him  a  hint 
that  the  Governor  was  by  charter  military  com- 
mander of  the  province,  but  it  was  necessary  to  have 
it  driven  home  by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  before  he 
would  allow  an  officer  of  the  regular  army  to  recruit 
volunteers.  Although  only  four  hundred  were  re- 
quested, seven  hundred  were  raised  ;  but  many  were 
redemptioners,  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  escape 
for  a  time  from  their  servitude;  and  fresh  trouble 
was  caused  by  the  necessity  of  indemnifying  the 
masters,  while  Thomas  raised  what  funds  he  could 
for  the  war  on  the  credit  of  the  British  government. 


212  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

The  Assembly  did  not  hesitate  to  reprimand  him 
severely  when  he  overstepped  bounds;  and,  to  show 
that  the  figlit  sprang  from  a  defence  of  their  rights, 
not  from  parsimony,  they  voluntarily  voted  a  gen- 
erous sum  to  the  Crown,  saying  that  they  wished 
to  share  the  public  burdens  of  their  fellow-subjects 
in  England.  All  the  while  their  own  commerce 
still  suffered  from  the  privateers  that  lay  about  the 
mouth  of  the  bay,  without  so  much  as  a  cruiser  to 
protect  the  interests  of  the  province.  Thomas,  with 
a  small  following  of  Philadelphia  fashionables,  called 
the  "  gentlemen's  party,"  entered  the  arena  against 
the  Quakers,  who  were  loyally  supported  by  the 
Germans  in  the  "  country  party."  They  upheld 
the  Assembly  in  allowing  Thomas's  salary  to  run 
behind,  and  in  filling  the  air  with  charges  of  un- 
truth, imposture,  hypocrisy,  tyranny,  and  faction, 
some  of  which  found  a  lodgment  in  memorials  to 
the  proprietors  and  letters  to  high  places  across  the 
sea.  A  crisis  came  in  the  Assembly  election  in 
1742.  The  country  party  won  an  overwhelming 
victory.  Thomas  acknowledged  it,  and  signed  the 
bills  which  the  Assembly  wanted.  Then  they  paid 
up  his  salary,  and  after  that  he  and  they  pulled  to- 
gether. 

At  that  time,  five  years  after  Thomas  Penn  had 
made  the  first  great  blunder  in  Indian  affairs  by  the 
Walking  Purchase,  he  added  another  to  it.  Unable 
himself  to  remove  the  defrauded  Delawares  from  the 
Minisink,  he  appealed,  with  a  large  present,  to  their 
over-lords,  the  Six  Nations,  who  forced  them  out  at 
once,  with  many  insults.     "  You  know  you  are  Wo- 


c/1     W 

<    ^ 

P-    o 


THE    OLD   ORDER    CHANGES  21$ 

men,"  they  said,  "  and  can  no  more  sell  Lands  than 
Women  .  .  .  return  to  .  .  .  where  you 
came  from."  The  Delawares  moved  to  Wyoming, 
Shamokin,  and  more  westerly  places;  but  they  left 
their  love  for  the  Pennsylvanians  and  their  fear  of 
the  Iroquois  behind  them.  The  desire  of  revenge 
made  them  men,  and  formed  them  into  a  strong 
nation. 

Two  years  later  the  French  and  their  Indians  were 
again  afoot  in  the  four  years  of  fire  and  murder 
known  as  "  King  George's  War."  Then  the  Gov- 
ernor, acting  on  the  hint  the  Assembly  had  given 
him  five  years  before,  made  no  demands,  but  opened 
his  list  for  volunteers  and  politely  accepted  the  As- 
sembly's gift  of  £^OQO  to  the  Crown  which  equipped 
four  companies  for  the  luckless  expedition  against 
Canada.  The  Assembly  would  not  consent  to 
Thomas's  proposition  to  try  and  draw  the  Indians 
into  fighting  for  the  province  instead  of  against  it; 
but  gave  large  presents,  all  in  vain,  to  keep  the 
savages'  friendship.  For  the  New  Englanders'  ex- 
pedition against  Louisbourg,  the  Assembly  voted 
^4000  **  to  be  expended  in  the  purchase  of  bread, 
beef,  pork,  flour,  wheat,  and  other  grain."  Frank- 
lin says  that  the  last  three  words  were  inserted  so 
that  the  Governor  could  buy  gunpowder,  which  he 
did  without  insisting  on  more  explicit  powers.  This 
was  but  one  of  many  cases  where  the  Friends  cov- 
ertly showed  their  sympathy  with  war.  Franklin 
tells  how  certain  Quaker  members  of  a  fire  company 
absented  themselves  from  a  meeting  at  which  they 
knew  money  was  to  be  voted  to  aid  the  defences. 


2l6  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

He  said  that  nineteen  out  of  every  twenty  Quakers 
were  in  favour  of  war.  He  himself,  after  an  ad- 
vance signal  in  a  characteristic  pamphlet,  which  he 
named  Plain  Truth,  called  a  meeting  of  citizens, 
briefly  laid  before  them  plans  for  an  association  for 
defence,  and  circulated  some  papers  which  were 
signed  at  once  by  twelve  hundred  names,  forming 
a  body  known  as  the  Associators,  the  name  of  the 
Pennsylvania  militia  for  many  years.  He  was  sup- 
ported by  Logan  and  other  distinguished  Quakers 
who  believed  in  defending  the  province;  and  in  a 
few  days  ten  thousand  volunteers  were  enrolled, 
armed  and  equipped  by  themselves,  many  from 
among  the  Quakers  and  many  from  the  Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians,  who  now  showed  their  first  interest 
in  the  politics  of  the  province  where  they  had  been 
living  for  twenty  years.  Franklin  was  then  nearly 
forty  years  old,  a  shining  example  of  a  self-made 
American,  not  only  with  a  prosperous  business  and 
a  good  record  of  public-spirited  actions,  but  with  an 
education  which  placed  him  among  the  most  learned 
men  of  his  time.  The  formation  of  the  Associators 
so  added  to  the  confidence  in  him  that  he  was  en- 
trusted with  the  people's  most  weighty  and  delicate 
missions  during  the  rest  of  his  life. 

In  the  midst  of  the  war,  Thomas  Penn  resigned 
his  jurisdiction,  about  the  time  of  his  popular  brother 
John's  death.  The  province  felt  the  loss  of  both 
with  deep  regret. 

In  no  colony  was  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  marked  by  more  changes  than  in  Pennsyl- 
vania.    The  strict  Quakers  of  the  older  days,  grow- 


9  -^ 

<    a, 


U      c4 


/ 


w^ 


THE    OLD   ORDER    CFIANGES  219 

ing  up  with  the  country,  active  in  its  politics  and 
still  frugal  amidst  its  increasing  wealth,  had  in- 
sensibly become  men  of  the  world  and  of  fortune, 
appreciating  education,  luxury,  and  amusement. 
They  gradually  threw  over  the  discipline  which  for- 
bade the  spending  of  money  for  anything  but  ne- 
cessities and  charities,  as  well  as  the  accepting  of 
royal  convoys  for  their  merchant-ships  during  the 
wars  or  actively  aiding  in  the  defence  of  the  pro- 
vince. The  Society  was  still  large,  and  contained 
a  conservative  element;  but  many  members  were  of 
much  the  same  mixture  of  piety  and  worldliness 
that  had  characterised  William  Penn.  Many  others 
were  out  of  Meeting  entirely,  and  had  joined  the 
once  disdained  English  Church.  The  proprietors 
were  now  of  this  faith,  and  gave  the  best  officers  in 
the  province  to  fellow-communicants.  It  was  they 
mainly  who  supported  a  school  for  higher  educa- 
tion, established  through  Franklin's  efforts  in  1749, 
and  chartered  a  few  years  later  by  the  proprietors 
and  by  the  Assembly  as  the  College,  Academy,  and 
Charitable  School  of  Philadelphia.  The  Provost 
was  the  able  Anglican  clergyman,  the  Rev.  William 
Smith,  long  a  marked  figure  in  the  province.  An- 
other, the  Rev.  Richard  Peters,  was  made  Secretary 
upon  the  death  of  the  great  Scotch  Quaker,  Logan, 
while  the  bench  of  the  Chief-Justice  was  filled  by 
such  men  as  Edward  Shippen  and  Benjamin  Chew. 
In  earlier  days,  the  small  handful  of  Churchmen  had 
been  the  enemies  of  the  proprietary  interest.  Now 
they  were  its  champions  and  its  beneficiaries.  The 
Quakers,  after  having  controlled  the  entire  govern- 


220  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

ment  for  sixty  years,  found  themselves  confined  to 
the  Assembly;  and  for  the  next  thirty  years,  as  long 
as  Pennsylvania  remained  a  province,  they  held  even 
that  foothold  with  difficulty. 

The  Deputy-Governor,  James  Hamilton,  was  a  son 
of  the  province,  held  in  the  highest  esteem,  not  only 
for  his  ability  and  mild  firmness  but  for  his  large 
property  interests  and  his  family  connections,  espe- 
cially as  the  son  of  Andrew  Hamilton,  formerly 
Governor  of  this  and  neighbouring  provinces,  and 
for  many  years  Speaker  of  the  Assembly.  He  ar- 
rived in  the  fall  of  1748  soon  after  the  Treaty  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle  was  signed ;  but  as  this  truce  was 
the  scorn  and  derision  of  the  enemy  for  the  half- 
dozen  years  that  it  was  supposed  to  stand,  the 
frontier  was  ravaged  by  their  Indians,  while  the 
Assembly  would  not  defend  it  because  the  pro- 
prietors placed  their  governor  under  penal  bond  not 
to  assent  to  any  law  for  raising  money  unless  he  had 
powers  in  spending  it.  They  saw  that  Thomas  Penn 
would  take  advantage  of  their  danger  to  force  them 
to  grant  his  deputy  control  of  the  money  they  must 
vote  for  self-protection.  They  refused  "  to  part 
with  the  rights  and  liberties  they  had  spent  nearly 
a  century  in  establishing."  This  was  not  all. 
Every  vote  to  raise  funds  in  the  Assembly — and 
they  were  many  and  generous — must  be  disallowed 
by  the  Governor  if  the  estates  of  the  proprietors 
were  included  under  the  taxes.  They  talked  as  if 
they  had  nothing  but  wild  land  on  which  the  As- 
sembly intended  to  levy  rates  heavy  enough  to  im- 
poverish  the   whole  family.      Of  course  the  Penns 


H   S 

p>     o 

C    fe 


THE    OLD    ORDER    CHAXGES  223 

held  by  far  the  largest  amount  of  improved  and 
valuable  property  in  the  province,  to  say  nothing 
of  their  manors,  sometimes  containing  as  much  as 
seventeen  thousand  acres  of  the  best  land,  selected 
by  their  surveyors  before  the  land  office  was  opened, 
and  retained  after  surrounding  lands  were  sold  and 
settled,  till  the  value  now  averaged  ^^300  the  one 
hundred  acres  —  a  princely  increase  from  the  found- 
er's valuation  of  forty  shillings.  There  would  have 
been  justice  in  a  considerable  tax  on  the  wild  lands, 
which  would  yield  in  future  much  greater  income 
than  the  millions  the  family  were  then  receiving 
from  Pennsylvania;  for  it  was  of  them  that  the 
French  were  beginning  to  take  fortified  possession. 
There  was  a  word  more  to  be  said.  It  was  chiefly 
through  Thomas  Penn's  greed  for  land  that  the  an- 
cient Indian  friends  of  the  colony  were  not  its  pro- 
tectors instead  of  its  invaders,  and  that  the  Iroquois 
had  become  so  overbearing  in  their  resentment  of 
the  ever-increasing  flood  of  settlers  on  unpurchased 
territory  that  the  entire  Long  House  was  almost 
ready  to  throw  off  its  ancient  allegiance  to  the  Eng- 
lish and  join  the  French.  Such  a  calamity  would 
have  defeated  the  English  cause.  When,  to  pre- 
vent it,  Lord  Holderness's  convention  of  colonial 
delegates  was  held  in  Albany  in  the  summer  of  1754, 
the  proprietor's  representatives — including  Richard's 
son  John,  who  arrived  in  the  province  that  year  to 
fit  himself  for  deputy-governor  —  seized  this  oppor- 
tunity to  obtain  Indian  title  from  the  Susquehanna 
to  about  the  present  western  boundary  of  Pennsyl- 
vania.     Mr.    Fisher  says   that   they   secured  about 


224  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

seven  million  acres  for  i^750, —  something  like  a 
penny  for  every  thirty-nine  acres, — and  did  so  by 
deceiving  the  Indians  with  compass  courses  which 
they  did  not  understand,  and  tricking  them  into 
granting  a  deed  without  the  signatures  of  the  tribes 
upon  the  land.  This  particular  tract  had  been  the 
home  of  the  much-tried  Shawanese  and  of  the  Ohio 
Indians,  as  well  as  the  hunting-grounds  of  the  Lenni- 
Lenap^s,  Nanticokes,  and  Tuteloes.  When  they 
learned  of  the  grant,  and  were  told  that  they  must 
fall  back  among  the  stranger  tribes  to  the  westward, 
they  went  over  in  a  body  to  the  French,  who  pro- 
mised to  recover  their  land  for  them,  and  were  soon 
shooting  down  the  British  regulars  and  tearing 
scalps  from  the  heads  of  women  and  children  in 
Pennsylvania.  The  alienation  of  the  Indians  was 
of  course  largely  due  to  France,  but  also  to  Thomas 
Penn's  Walking  Purchase  and  Albany  Treaty,  to- 
gether with  the  great  influx  of  settlers. 

Since  early  spring  the  French  had  been  in  posses- 
sion of  the  forks  of  the  Ohio,  where  Pittsburgh  now 
stands,  and  had  begun  to  build  Fort  Duquesne. 
The  news  that  they  had  routed  Colonel  George 
Washington  at  Great  Meadows  was  received  while 
the  Albany  Council  was  sitting.  This  last  chapter 
of  the  war  which  the  French  in  Canada  had  been 
wao-inCT  ao-ainst  New    England   and   New  York  for 

o        o         o  o 

half  a  century  was  opened  on  Pennsylvania's  fron- 
tier, thouG^h  the  whole  req-ion  then  was  claimed  also 
by  Virginia.  To  the  Pennsylvanians,  it  was  doubly 
horrible  not  only  as  their  first  prolonged  experience 
of  Indian  raids,  but  as  the  vengeance  of  personal 


THE   OLD   ORDER   CHANGES  225 

wrongs  inflicted  upon  a  gentle  people  who  had  been 
friends  of  the  colony  for  over  fifty  years. 

Hamilton  resigned  in  this  memorable  year  of  1754 
because  his  instructions  forced  him  to  thwart  the 
Assembly,  when  he  could  not  decently  forbear  to 
help  and  sympathise  with  them.  Five  years  later, 
he  was  returned  with  liberty  to  follow  a  milder  if 
not  a  generous  policy.  During  the  interval,  the 
worst  time  of  the  war,  his  post  was  occupied  by  **  a 
change  of  devils,"  as  Franklin  said.  The  first  of 
them  was  the  courtly  and  well-educated  Robert 
Hunter  Morris,  son  of  the  honoured  Lewis  Morris 
of  New  York  and  New  Jersey.  In  less  than  two 
years  he  gave  the  Pennsylvanians  "  more  trouble 
than  any  other  deputy  "  they  had  had.  Yet,  while 
resisting  him,  the  Assembly  aided  Braddock's  cam- 
paign in  the  spring  of  1755.  That  confident  com- 
mander found  that  he  could  not  move  a  mile  until 
Franklin  on  his  personal  credit  procured  waggons 
and  pack-horses.  This  was  not  all.  Braddock,  who 
was  usually  sparing  of  praise,  wrote  to  Franklin 
that  his  people,  unlike  those  of  the  other  colonies, 
had  promised  nothing  and  performed  everything, 
doing  more  for  the  campaign  than  any  other  pro- 
vince. After  the  General's  woeful  defeat  beyond 
the  Monongahela,  when  scalping  parties  came  within 
thirty  miles  of  Philadelphia,  the  Assembly  did  their 
utmost  to  aid  the  panic-stricken  frontiersmen.  Still 
resisting  Morris,"  without  jeopardising  their  rights, ' ' 
they  raised  thousands  of  pounds  "  by  voluntary 
subscription,  on  the  promise  that  the  Assembly 
would  reimburse  the  subscribers." 


226  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Before  long  they  even  passed  their  first  military 
law,  framed  and  made  popular  by  Franklin,  under 
which  more  than  a  thousand  volunteers  were  kept 
upon  the  frontier.  Franklin  took  over  five  hundred 
men  upon  a  very  successful  campaign  to  the  Lehigh 
Valley,  and  was  strongly  urged  to  lead  an  expedi- 
tion against  Fort  Duquesne.  The  Assembly  also 
built  a  chain  of  seventeen  forts,  covering  more  than 
two  hundred  miles  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
principal  mountain  passes,  adding  to  them  from 
time  to  time,  until  within  a  few  years  there  were 
about  fifty.  They  also  fitted  out  a  frigate  to  defend 
the  Delaware  Bay  and  River.  Morris's  term  came 
to  an  end  in  the  midsummer  of  1756,  and  the  other 
"  devil,"  William  Denny,  did  not  deserve  the  name 
long.  He  w^as  feasted  at  the  State  House,  and  a 
large  grant  was  voted  to  him,  with  the  request  that 
he  would  make  known  his  instructions.  When  he 
did  so  the  Assembly  resolved  that  they  were  arbi- 
trary, unjust,  an  infraction  of  their  charter,  and  a 
violation  of  their  rights  as  English  subjects.  Frank- 
lin was  sent  to  England  to  lay  the  case  before  the 
Crown.  Received  at  once  among  the  most  distin- 
guished people  of  the  realm,  both  he  and  his  brilliant 
son  William,  afterwards  Governor  of  New  Jersey, 
had  exceptional  opportunities  to  make  clear  the 
utter  unfairness  of  the  proprietors'  position.  With 
patient  and  consummate  ability,  in  high  places  and 
low,  they  showed  that  the  proprietors,  while  likely 
to  be  made  far  richer  than  ever  after  the  war,  wished 
to  be  exempt  from  the  taxes  it  involved,  though 
both  lords  and  commons  at  home  were  being  taxed 


THE   OLD    ORDER    CHANGES  22/ 

to  the  extent  of  thousands  of  pounds  to  protect 
these  same  lands.  The  Franklins  told  how  the 
Assembly,  while  resisting  the  proprietors'  encroach- 
ments on  their  rights,  had  defended  the  frontier  and 
aided  his  Majesty's  forces  as  generously  as  any  pro- 
vince in  America.  Upon  Benjamin  Franklin's  per- 
sonal pledge  that  the  estates  would  not  be  unfairly 
taxed,  the  King  supported  the  Assembly's  demand. 
The  tax  was  laid  forthwith,  and  when  it  proved  to 
be  ;^566  on  the  entire  Penn  property,  the  proprie- 
tors' reasons  for  their  conduct  appeared  so  grossly 
selfish  and  absurd  as  to  give  a  decided  set-back  to 
all  their  aggressions  against  the  liberties  which  the 
province  had  received  from  their  father. 

But  the  Assembly  was  not  always  in  the  right. 
It  had  many  bitter  controversies  in  these  years,  the 
most  important  with  the  College  Provost,  William 
Smith,  in  which  the  deputies  behaved  very  ill. 
Mr.  Smith  took  his  appeal  to  England,  obtaining 
the  Privy  Council's  rebuke  to  the  Assembly,  and 
setting  a  sharper  watch  on  their  resistance  to  the 
King's  prerogative.  Deputy-Governor  Denny  en- 
dured their  wrangling  and  went  without  his  salary 
as  long  as  he  could;  then,  needing  money  and  be- 
lieving that  he  would  be  upheld  by  Franklin's  suc- 
cess in  England,  he  agreed  to  a  bill  taxing  the  Penn 
estates.  The  proprietors  removed  him  **  for  sacri- 
ficing their  interests  to  his  own  "  ;  but  replaced  him 
by  the  mild  and  generous  James  Hamilton,  who 
was  left  free  to  avoid  more  than  a  formal  pretence 
to  the  control  of  the  Assembly's  outlay. 

In   the   war,   besides   Colonel   John   Armstrong's 


228  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

capture  of  the  Indian  town  of  Kittanning  in  Sep- 
tember, 1756,  and  aid  on  the  frontiers  of  both 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  these  people,  it  is  said, 
"  afforded  more  free  recruits  to  the  King's  forces 
than  any  other  colony."  Besides  a  body  of  sailors 
for  Commodore  Spry's  fleet,  **  men  were  raised  for 
Shirley's  and  Pepperell's  regiments,  for  Halket's 
and  Dunbar's,  for  the  New  York  and  Carolina  Inde- 
pendent Companies,  for  Nova  Scotia,  and  even  for 
the  West  Indies."  In  the  summer  of  1757,  in  sup- 
port of  Pitt's  vigorous  management,  they  furnished 
over  twenty-seven  hundred  men,  with  a  bounty  of 
£^  to  every  recruit,  and  voted  ;^  100,000  to  repair 
roads  and  give  other  aid  in  General  Forbes's  cam- 
paign against  Fort  Duquesne.  The  march  began 
at  Carlisle,  and  the  western  portion  of  the  colony 
was  the  scene  of  the  events  crowned  by  taking  pos- 
session, November  25,  1758,  of  the  long-coveted 
"  fort  at  the  forks,"  which  was  rebuilt  and  renamed 
Pittsburgh,  to  become  the  most  magnificent  among 
the  many  monuments  raised  to  the  great  statesman. 
It  became  at  once  the  centre  of  the  operations  for 
the  capture  of  every  French  post  as  far  as  Lake 
Erie.  Under  its  protection  the  devastated  frontier 
was  soon  dotted  with  settlers'  log  huts  and  pali- 
saded enclosures,  even  while  the  Assembly  was 
sending  fresh  men  and  supplies  to  the  northern 
campaigns. 

In  Pontiac's  rebellion,  which  broke  out  soon  after, 
the  victory  over  the  French  was  completed,  though 
all  of  Pennsylvania  west  of  Shippensburg  was  rav- 
aged by  the  Indians,  especially   by  secret  enemies 


iiliil 


Pi 
W 

»-^ 

H 
Q 

w 


If 

lis 

^  s  2 


.-^  *  *  -, « 


.J?^ 


f  < 


^  6  t  '" 


mm 


«  I S  ;fe  w  «  .  § 


1 


rilE   OLD   ORDER    CHANGES  23 1 

among  the  professedly  allied  tribes,  until  Fort  Ly- 
gonier  and  Foit  Pitt  were  relieved  by  the  idolised 
Colonel  Bouquet. 

During  the  remaining  twelve  years,  the  province 
was  governed  by  the  founder's  grandson,  John  Penn. 
It  was  the  longest  administration  in  the  list,  and 
opened  with  such  a  sordid  demand  on  behalf  of  his 
father,  Richard  Penn,  and  his  uncle  Thomas  (for 
the  taxation  of  their  estates  to  be  rated  at  the 
lowest  valuation  of  the  worst-tenanted  lands)  that 
Franklin  was  again  sent  to  England  in  1764  with  a 
petition  for  the  abolition  of  the  proprietors'  govern- 
ment. But  soon  after  his  arrival  the  Stamp  Act 
and  other  plans  for  parliamentary  taxation  of  the 
colonies  turned  all  resistance  in  another  direction. 
The  Assembly  allowed  no  stamps  to  be  used,  and 
closed  public  offices  from  November  ist  until  May, 
when  news  was  received  that  the  act  would  be  re- 
pealed;  yet  it  allowed  no  destruction  of  property 
and  behaved  in  such  an  orderly  fashion  as  to  be 
commended  by  George  III.  The  repeal  was  cele- 
brated with  un-Quakerlike  festivities;  but  resistance 
reared  its  head  at  once  against  other  taxation.  The 
laws  forbidding  exportation  of  colonial  products  to 
foreign  countries  had  been  enforced  but  rarely  for 
three  quarters  of  a  century,  and  the  opposition  to 
any  such  restraints  was  almost  unanimous.  Then 
began  to  appear  in  the  Pennsylvania  Chronicle  and 
Universal  Advertiser  John  Dickinson's  "  Letters 
from  a  Farmer,"  reasonable  and  eloquent  essays  on 
the  colonists'  rights,  which  were  republished  and 
read  all  over  the  country,   arousing  the  people  to 


232  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

prompt  and  united  action  in  their  common  defence. 
In  a  Boston  town-meeting  a  letter  of  thanks  was 
voted  to  the  "  patriotic,  enlightened,  and  noble- 
spirited  author."  Pennsylvanians  are  said  to  have 
kept  to  the  non-importation  agreements  except  for 
one  chest  of  tea.  A  mass-meeting  in  Philadelphia 
of  nearly  eight  thousand  persons  voted  aid  and  sym- 
pathy to  Boston  when  the  port  was  closed,  and  in 
favour  of  a  Colonial  Congress  and  a  standing  Com- 
mittee of  Correspondence.  At  the  next  Assembly 
the  delegates  were  the  pick  of  the  province  for  pub- 
lic spirit,  character,  intelligence,  and  wealth.  They 
appointed  delegates  to  the  Congress,  but  weighted 
their  instructions  on  the  rights  of  the  colony  with 
caution  against  disloyalty  and  offence  to  the  Crown. 
The  conservatism  of  the  province,  especially  among 
the  most  powerful  Quakers  and  Churchmen,  that 
was  shown  while  the  Congress  was  sitting  in  Phila- 
delphia, gave  great  umbrage  to  the  small  element 
of  zealous  patriots  and  to  the  more  persecuted  colo- 
nies. The  Assembly,  however,  adopted  the  report 
of  the  First  Congress  and  returned  its  delegates  to 
the  second.  Meanwhile,  Governor  Penn  was  so 
careful  not  to  aggravate  this  mild  resistance  that 
all  old  differences  with  the  proprietors  seemed  to  be 
dropped.  Even  when  the  ministry  required  him  to 
protest  against  the  colonists'  proceedings,  he  did  it 
so  gently  as  almost  to  disobey.  But  he  sided  with 
the  Tories  when  the  Whigs  were  forced  to  come  out 
boldly  by  the  events  in  other  colonies  and  the  action 
of  the  Second  Congress  in  1776.  On  June  14th, 
the  Assembly  met  for  what  was  practically  the  last 


CARPENTERS     HALL,    PHILADELPHIA,    WHEREIN   MET   THE   FIRST 
CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS,    1774. 


233 


THE   OLD   ORDER    CHANGES 


235 


time,  and  released  their  delegates  from  the  restric- 
tions against  voting  for  independence.  Benjamin 
Franklin  was  one  of  the  committee  to  draw  up  the 
Declaration  ;  but  while  he  and  two  others  voted  for 
it,  two  others  voted  against  it,  and  two  more  were 
absent. 

A  convention  for  forming  the  new  government  of 
Pennsylvania  met  in  Philadelphia  on  July  15th, 
elected  Dr.  Franklin  president,  and,  assuming  the 
political  power  of  the  State,  returned  to  Congress 
the  delegates  who  had  voted  for  independence  ;  and 
on  September  28,  1776,  adopted  a  new  constitution. 


CHAPTER    IX 

CONNECTICUT,    NINTH    COLONY  —  AN   INLAND 
REPUBLIC 


THE  foundations  of  one  more  colony,  making 
five  in  all,  were  laid  by  the  Dutch  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  first  trading  station  and  the  first 
planting  of  white  men's  crops,  giving  Connecticut 
ninth  place  among  the  Thirteen.  When  all  the  old 
records  of  the  Dutch  in  North  America  have  been 
fully  investigated,  this  story  may  possibly  begin  a 
little  earlier,  immediately  after  those  of  New  York 
and  New  Jersey.  The  Dutch  West  India  Com- 
pany's charter,  issued  in  1623,  claimed  as  the  north- 
eastern boundary  of  New  Netherland  this  Versche  or 
Fresh  Water,  discovered  by  Adriaen  Block  ten  years 
before,  and  "  known  by  the  name  of  Conighticute," 
an  Indian  word  for  "  long  river."  Some  assert  that 
a  part  of  the  first  colony  of  W^alloons,  brought  out 
that  same  year  by  Captain  Mey,  built  a  factory  and 
settled  there.  Certainly  Dutch  shallops  were  soon 
on  the  river,  buying  one  thousand  beaver-skins  a 
year  from  the  Pequots,  the  over-lords  of  the  whole 
region.     In  1628,  this  warlike  nation  permitted  a  part 

236 


CONNECTICUT,    NINTH  COLONY  237 

of  the  country  on  the  Dutch  side  of  the  river  to  be 
occupied  by  the  broken  and  disgraced  nation  of  the 
Mohicans,  driven  from  their  ancient  home  on  the 
Hudson  by  the  Mohawks,  and  forced  to  accept  this 
very  uncertain  refuge  among  other  subordinate 
tribes. 

The  Mohican  leader,  "  the  sHppery  Uncas,"  be- 
came son-in-law  and  sagamore  or  under-chief  to  the 
great  Pequot  sachem  Sassacus,  but  his  people  did 
not  escape  a  heavy  tribute.  Nor  did  the  Pequots' 
deadly  enmity  to  the  Mohawks  keep  their  collectors 
from  pursuing  the  Mohicans  across  the  mountains. 
Uncas,  feeling  that  he  and  his  tribe  were  between 
the  devil  and  the  deep  sea,  bethought  himself  of  an 
alliance  with  the  white  men.  He  had  no  hopes  from 
the  Dutch,  for  they  were  friends  of  the  Mohawks, 
and  he  had  already  drawn  them  into  one  scrape  to 
his  sorrow.  His  trust  was  in  the  English  at  New 
Plymouth,  and  the  much  greater  company  of  their 
brethren  who  had  begun  to  settle  about  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay.  He  offered  them  yearly  presents  of 
corn  and  beaver-skins  if  they  would  remove  to  the 
Connecticut  Valley,  which,  he  said  with  truth,  had  a 
better  climate  and  a  more  fertile  soil  than  any  place 
yet  chosen  by  white  men.  He  talked  as  if  the  val- 
ley were  his  to  dispose  of,  saying  nothing  of  Indian 
politics  in  the  region.  It  was  a  wily  and  well-played 
trick  to  replenish  the  Mohicans'  supplies  of  wam- 
pum, blankets,  and  hatchets  by  selling  the  Pequots' 
land,  and,  at  the  same  stroke,  securing  against  them 
the  alliance  of  what  was  obviously  going  to  be  a 
powerful   colony.       Both   New   Plymouth    and   the 


238  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Massachusetts  were  caught.  The  Pilgrims,  after 
trying  in  vain  to  form  a  partnership  with  the  Bay, 
went  several  times  to  the  river,  "  not  without 
profit." 

Meantime  the  Dutch  had  been  obliged  to  keep 
close  to  their  capital  during  the  Mohawk  and  Mo- 
hican war;  but,  in  1632,  Director  Van  Twiller  planted 
the  arms  of  the  States-General  on  the  west  side  of 
the  river's  mouth;  and,  in  the  next  year  Commis- 
sary Jacob  Van  Curler  bought  from  the  Pequots 
large  tracts  on  the  western  bank  up  the  river,  in- 
cluding Suckiag,  and  both  sides  of  the  Little  River, 
now  in  Hartford.  On  the  southern  bank  of  this 
stream  he  threw  up  earthworks,  mounted  two  guns, 
and  built  a  well-stockaded  block-house  and  factory, 
which  he  named  Hct  Huys  de  Hoop,  the  House  of 
Hope,  which  the  English  commonly  called  Fort 
Good  Hope.  He  planted  the  fields  round  about 
with  grain  for  the  garrison,  and  with  fruit-trees,  no 
doubt,  as  the  Dutch  always  did.  Soon  he  was 
carrying  on  a  livelier  peltry  business  than  ever  with 
the  Pequots. 

So  strong  is  the  influence  of  the  chronicles  of  our 
worthy  but  aggressive  English  colonists  that  even 
recent  American  writers,  apparently  working  with 
dispassionate  judgment,  usually  dismiss  this  event 
as  a  futile  sort  of  affront  to  the  New  England  pi- 
oneers, scarcely  worth  the  telling,  except  to  show 
how  bravely  it  was  resented  by  the  Pilgrims,  whose 
western  boundary  was  fixed  at  the  ''  Narrogancett," 
and  by  men  from  Massachusetts  who  had  no  right 
to  a  foot  of  land  three  miles  south  of  the  Charles 


CONNECTICUT,   NINTH   COLONY  239 

River.  The  English  tried  for  some  twenty  years  to 
ruin  Good  Hope,  declaring  that  the  Dutch  only  set 
it  up  because  they  heard  that  the  English  wanted 
the  valley,  and  justifying  themselves  by  saying  that 
the  King  —  whom  they  defied  in  their  government 
and  under  whose  heavy  displeasure  they  rested — 
had  confided  to  them  the  task  of  "  crowding  out 
the  Dutch." 

The  colonists  of  New  Netherland,  as  we  have  seen, 
were  under  strict  orders  not  to  attack  the  subjects 
of  any  nation  with  whom  the  States-General  were 
at  peace.  But  they  could  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
Englishmen's  remonstrances,  which  were  many  and 
loud  ;  and  when  in  October  of  that  same  year  (1633), 
William  Holmes  of  Plymouth  appeared  opposite  the 
fort  in  a  small  vessel,  the  Dutch  could  threaten  to 
fire  on  him.  That  was  all  they  dared  to  do,  and 
Holmes,  the  English  chroniclers  say,  "went  bravely 
on." 

He  had  a  number  of  Mohicans  with  him  and  some 
labouring  men  of  the  Old  Colony.  About  six  miles 
farther,  on  the  Dutch  side  of  the  Connecticut,  at 
the  Tunxis  (now  Farmington)  River,  he  bought  a 
parcel  of  land  from  Uncas,  set  up  a  frame  house 
which  he  had  brought  on  his  vessel,  surrounded  it 
with  a  palisade,  began  to  break  up  some  land  for 
planting,  and  found  time  besides  to  trade  with  the 
Indians.  After  a  year  or  so  a  body  of  Dutch  sol- 
diers appeared  on  the  river;  but,  the  English  say, 
soon  saw  "  that  the  nut  was  too  hard  to  crack."  It 
is  hard  to  see,  however,  if  sent  for  anything  but  a 
mere  show  of  hostilities,  how  seventy  trained  soldiers 


240  THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

could  have  feared  a  dozen  Pilgrim  traders  and 
labourers.  That  same  year,  Van  Curler  summarily 
avenged  a  murder  at  the  fort  by  some  Pequots, — 
it  is  not  always  stated  that  the  victim  was  an  English 
trader  from  Virginia, — and  when  the  Pequots  carried 
their  wrath,  real  or  pretended,  to  the  Massachusetts 
Colony  with  a  petulant  offer  to  transfer  to  them  all 
Indian  title  on  the  river,  the  offer  was  accepted 
and  the  Dutch  purchases  declared  forfeit.  But  the 
Dutch  held  their  ground,  and  lost  neither  their 
influence  nor  their  trade  with  the  Pequots. 

By  this  time,  in  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  Water- 
town,  Newtown,  and  Dorchester  had  made  the  un- 
pleasant discovery  that  their  land  and  water  were 
poor,  and  that  the  entire  management  of  the  colony 
was  under  the  thumb  of  the  Boston  Church.  In 
spite  of  opposition  from  the  magistrates,  they  de- 
termined to  emigrate  as  towns  and  congregations  to 
the  Connecticut  Valley.  In  Newtown  the  project 
was  favoured  not  only  by  John  Haynes,  about  this 
time  Governor  of  the  colony,  but  by  the  minister, 
Thomas  Hooker,  who  as  a  Christian  pastor  and 
preacher,  as  a  statesman,  or  as  a  citizen,  friend,  and 
head  of  a  family,  stands  among  the  most  worthy  in 
American  history.  He  was  called  the  soul  of  the 
exodus.  In  Watertown  the  "  fever  for  removal  " 
was  heightened  by  the  appearance  of  the  venture- 
some trader,  John  Oldham,  who  after  all  his  escap- 
ades had  become  a  respectable  citizen  of  this  pious 
community.  He  had  returned  from  **  the  Valley  " 
by  an  overland  route,  probably  an  Indian  trail, 
which  showed  that  removals  need  not  be  made  by 


CONNECTICUT,    NINTH   CO  10 NY  24 1 

water.  The  Mohicans  had  worked  upon  him  with 
presents  of  beaver;  the  country  spoke  for  itself, 
with  its  varied  and  plentiful  timber,  its  game,  pel- 
tries, and  meadows  of  wild  hemp  of  better  quality 
than  the  cultivated  hemp  of  England.  Indeed  for 
beauty,  climate,  soil,  water-power,  and  all  other  re- 
sources the  Connecticut  was  the  most  desirable  re- 
gion that  had  yet  come  under  his  eye;  and  no  man 
had  seen  more  of  New  England.  There  is  a  tradi- 
tion that  he  soon  retraced  the  trail  with  a  small 
party  of  his  townsmen,  who  passed  the  winter  of 
1634  at  Pequag,  on  the  Dutch  side  of  the  river, 
giving  the  town  of  Wethersfield  cause  to  plume  it- 
self on  having  been  the  first  transplanted  from  the 
Bay.  Certainly,  says  Mr.  Alexander  Johnston,*  de- 
tached parties  from  this  town  settled  there  all 
through  the  warm  weather  following. 

The  same  summer  a  group  of  men  from  Dorchester 
made  what  is  called  the  beginning  of  Windsor,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Tunxis  River  and  the  Pilgrims' 
trading  house.  Holmes's  men  protested,  and  Gov- 
ernor Bradford  denounced  the  encroachment;  but 
the  Dorchester  men  "  shamelessly  replied  that  the 
territory  was  the  Lord's  waste  "  ;  and  the  best  they 
would  do  was  to  promise  to  pay  the  Plymouth 
owners  if  they  gave  up  "  their  house  with  two 
parcels  of  land,  making  in  all  one  sixteenth  of  the 
tract  purchased  from  the  Indians." 

At  the  famous  drawing  in  the  Council  for  New 
England  the  same  year,  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton 
received  the  "  plot  "  between  the  Narragansett  and 
the  Conne  ;ticut  and  sixty  miles  inland.     Apparently 

*  Connecticut. 


242  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

this  overlapped  the  country  which,  ignoring  the 
Dutch  claims,  the  Earl  of  Warwick  had  ceded  some 
time  before  to  Lord  Say  and  Sele,  Lord  Brooke, 
and  their  unknown  "  associates."  To  take  posses- 
sion of  the  claim  before  Hamilton  could  seize  it,  the 
Say  and  Sele  patentees  promptly  sent  over  a  com- 
pany of  soldier  workmen  with  Lyon  Gardiner,  an 
expert  engineer,  and,  as  ''  Governor  of  the  River 
Connecticut,"  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  the  charming 
gentleman,  scholar,  and  statesman,  who  had  al- 
ready founded  Ipswich  in  the  Bay  Colony,  and  was 
destined  to  be,  perhaps,  the  greatest  benefactor  to 
the  settlers  of  the  Connecticut.  They  arrived  at 
Boston  in  the  early  autumn  of  1635,  increasing  the 
*'  fever  for  removal  "  by  cordiality  toward  their  pro- 
spective neighbours,  and  by  Gardiner's  promptness 
in  fortifying  the  mouth  of  the  river,  on  the  Dutch 
side.  He  tore  down  the  arms  of  the  States-General 
and  mounted  two  guns,  just  in  time  to  train  them  on 
a  Dutch  vessel  which  Van  T wilier  had  apparently 
sent  for  another  show  of  hostilities,  but  which  soon 
left  Gardiner  and  his  men  in  good  spirits  to  build 
the  fort  and  lay  out  a  regular  military  plantation, 
with  cabins  and  farms  for  the  men  and  "  a  residence 
for  gentlemen  of  quality  who  might  come  over." 
The  place  was  named  Saybrook,  in  honour  of  the 
two  leading  proprietors.  Before  the  fort  was  fin- 
ished, about  sixty  men,  women,  and  children, 
mostly  from  Newtown,  took  the  trail  to  the  valley, 
driving  their  horses,  cattle,  and  swine,  while  sending 
the  bulk  of  their  provisions  and  furniture  by  water. 
After  about    two   weeks  of  ''  tedious   and  difficult 


GOVERNOR    JOHN    WINTHROP. 
From  a  steel  Print. 


243 


CONNECTICUT,   NINTH  COLONY  245 

journey  through  swamps  and  rivers,  over  mountains 
and  rough  ground,  the  exodus  reached  the  broad 
Connecticut  in  deep  snow  and  tempestuous  season," 
and  were  ferried  across  on  rafts.  On  Van  Curler's 
purchase  they  began  to  plant  what  was  afterward 
the  town  of  Hartford  at  Suckiag,  directly  opposite 
the  House  of  Good  Hope,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Little  River.  No  news  ever  came 
from  the  boats  with  their  provisions  and  furniture. 
While  cold  increased,  food  failed.  Some  of  the 
people,  desperate  with  hunger,  undertook  to  return 
overland  to  Massachusetts,  and  were  only  saved 
from  perishing  by  the  Indians,  while  about  seventy 
others  went  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  hoping 
to  meet  their  stores.  The  few  who  clung  to  their 
huts  at  Suckiag  have  left  scarcely  a  word  of  that 
winter,  and  nothing  about  the  men  at  Fort  Good 
Hope.  If  Van  Curler's  garrison  had  withdrawn,  the 
English  would  probably  have  taken  possession  ;  and, 
before  assuming  that  the  Dutch,  with  their  crops  har- 
vested, saw  the  intruders  starve,  we  should  remember 
that  our  records  show  fewer  instances  of  Dutchmen's 
inhumanity  than  of  Englishmen's  silence  concerning 
events  that  might  be  construed  against  their  claims. 
At  any  rate  the  new-comers  seem  to  have  fought 
deadly  cold  and  hunger  with  a  little  corn,  a  few 
finds  of  game  and  acorns,  till  the  joyful  spring  scat- 
tered their  hardships  and  brought  their  friends. 

Then  the  other  towns  also  finished  their  removal. 
The  Massachusetts  General  Court,  forced  to  consent 
to  their  going,  issued  a  "  Commission  to  Several 
Persons  to  govern  the  people  at  Connecticut  for  the 


246  THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

space  of  a  year  "  ;  and  the  magistrates  lent  cannon 
and  ammunition.  The  first  "  Corte  "  of  Connecti- 
cut met  at  Suckiag,  then  called  Newtown,  to  vote 
that  no  firearms  should  be  sold  to  the  Indians,  and 
to  lay  down  other  regulations  for  the  good  order, 
settlement,  and  defence  of  the  towns.  During  the 
year,  a  court  of  two  magistrates  from  each  town  met 
at  the  three  settlements  in  turn.  The  Indian  poli- 
tics, of  which  Uncas  had  said  nothing,  soon  began 
to  be  so  manifest  that  the  settlers  saw  before  them 
more  serious  trouble  than  had  been  known  by  any 
colony,  except  perhaps  Virginia.  The  Mohicans 
and  other  tribes,  who  had  sold  land  to  the  new- 
comers, retaining  and  living  upon  certain  plots  in 
each  of  the  towns,  were  of  course  very  obsequious 
to  the  Englishmen,  but  they  were  soon  distrusted, 
while  the  Pequots  showed  that  they  considered 
them  thieves  and  traitors  and  the  white  men  in- 
truders. Meantime,  Oldham  had  been  found  dead 
in  his  vessel  off  Block  Island,  and  the  rash  Endicott, 
sent  with  a  party  by  the  Massachusetts  authorities 
to  secure  satisfaction  from  the  supposed  murderers, 
visited  the  Pequots  on  his  accusing  round,  "  burned 
and  spoiled  what  we  could  light  on,"  as  one  of  the 
party  said,  and  thereby  set  the  Pequots  swarming 
about  the  new  plantations.  Soon  after  midsummer, 
the  towns  were  obliged  to  order  all  the  men  to  arm 
and  equip  themselves,  to  train  regularly,  and  keep  a 
constant  watch.  This,  in  addition  to  the  hardships 
of  removal  and  provision  against  the  coming  winter, 
made  the  summer  of  1636  one  to  be  long  remem- 
bered.     The  people  could  neither  work  in  the  fields. 


CONNECTICUT,    NINTH   COLONY  247 

nor  hunt,  nor  go  from  place  to  place  but  at  the  peril 
of  their  lives.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  find 
the  dead  body  of  a  venturesome  settler  hanging  on 
some  prominent  tree  by  the  river,  showing  the  signs 
of  horrible  tortures  and  death.  Saybrook  then  had 
many  houses  well  placed  for  two  miles  about,  and 
cattle  grazing  and  labourers  cultivating  the  ground 
or  completing  the  defences.  But,  before  winter  set 
in,  the  Pequots  had  killed  several  of  the  men  at  their 
work,  burned  almost  everything  beyond  the  range 
of  the  guns,  and  actually  beleaguered  the  fort.  The 
crowning  outrage  seems  to  have  been  the  capture 
of  two  young  girls,  who  were  rescued  by  the  Dutch 
at  the  risk  of  their  own  peace  with  the  Pequots. 

That  winter  of  1636-37,  the  name  of  Newtown 
was  changed  to  Hartford,  probably  from  Hertford, 
near  London,  where  the  pastor,  Mr.  Samuel  Stone, 
was  born  ;  and  Watertown  was  rechristened  Wethers- 
field,  from  the  Sussex  birthplace  of  John  Talcott. 
Soon  afterward  Dorchester  was  called  Windsor. 
By  the  end  of  the  year,  these  English  from  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  had  founded  the  first  American  colony 
which  was  not  settled  by  direct  immigration  from 
Europe;  the  first  colony  planted  by  communities 
already  organised;  the  first  to  start  with  town  gov- 
ernments and  from  them  to  erect  a  colonial  gov- 
ernment; the  first  in  North  America  deliberately 
selected  with  any  knowledge  of  the  climate,  soil, 
and  resources  for  livelihood  ;  the  first  inland  colony, 
and  the  first  planted  on  territory  thickly  inhabited 
and  bitterly  disputed  by  natives.  The  movement 
is  characterised  by  Mr.  Doyle  as  one  which  proved 


248  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

to  be  of  chief  importance  in  the  unity  of  New  Eng- 
land plantations,  although  at  the  outset  it  was  a 
cause  of  discord  and  disruption  between  them,  as  it 
was  the  beginning  of  active  hostilities  with  the 
Dutch,  and  of  the  first  serious  Indian  war.  Mr. 
Johnston  says  the  break  from  Massachusetts  *'  was 
governed  by  religious,  as  it  was  actuated  by  ma- 
terial, motives.  To  the  Connecticut  settler,  religion 
was  an  essential  part  of  daily  life  and  politics,  and 
logic  was  an  essential  part  of  religion.  For  nearly 
a  century  the  same  persons  in  each  town  discussed 
and  decided  ecclesiastical  and  civil  affairs,  acting  as 
a  town  or  a  church  meeting." 

The  leaders  of  the  Newtown  emigration  made 
sure  the  establishment  of  the  Church  and  of  the 
town  on  the  principles  of  separate  liberty,  which  had 
been  their  chief  motive  for  removal.  Their  pastor, 
Thomas  Hooker,  was  the  leader  and  the  tribune  of 
the  valley  as  long  as  he  lived,  which,  unhappily, 
was  only  ten  years. 

The  fathers  of  this  colony  have  left  no  chronicle 
of  the  appearance  of  men  and  things,  but  admirable 
business-like  records  of  events.  Their  history  un- 
rolls a  long  list  of  births,  marriages,  and  deaths, 
offences  and  punishments,  of  property  transfers, 
and  details  of  government  whose  leaders  were  un- 
aware that  their  miniature  state  was  destined  to  go 
far  toward  making  a  model  for  a  new  nation.  But 
the  story-teller  finds  it  hard  to  think  of  them  as 
strong  young  Englishmen,  with  their  brave  wives, 
loving  and  playing  with  the  children  that  soon  filled 
their  small,  bare  log  cabins,  sharing  one  another's 


C0NNECriCU7\    NINTH   COLONY  249 

too  frequent  bereavements,  nursing  the  best  or  the 
worst  in  sickness,  and  lightening  the  labours  of  the 
afflicted;  all  of  them  sometimes  impulsively  doing 
what  they  ought  not  to  do,  and  then  in  the  most 
human  way  repenting  and  explaining  their  faults. 
Scholars  and  statesmen,  as  well  as  labourers,  worked 
with  their  hands,  women  and  children  helping. 
Gardens  and  crops  were  planted,  houses  and  barns 
built,  and  a  tolerable  harvest  made.  Defences  were 
raised  and  roads  begun,  not  only  between  the 
farms,  but  from  town  to  town  in  case  of  danger; 
and  this  was  done  so  thoroughly  that  Hartford,  for 
instance,  added  but  one  highway  in  a  century  and 
a  half.  "  The  planters,  many  of  them  persons  of 
ficrure  who  had  lived  in  England  in  honour,  afflu- 
ence,  and  delicacy,  were  entire  strangers  to  fatigue 
and  danger," — much  more  to  the  work  of  felling 
trees,  building  huts,  or  cultivating  the  soil.  They 
had  few  oxen,  and  tools  were  scarce  —  no  more, 
perhaps,  than  five  ploughs  in  the  whole  settlement. 
It  was  slow  work  to  make  what  they  needed,  and 
everything  imported  was  dear.  A  pair  of  oxen  cost 
forty  pounds,  a  mare  from  England  or  Flanders 
thirty. 

In  the  spring  of  1637,  Wethersfield,  which  always 
suffered  for  want  of  good  management,  is  said  to 
have  violated  a  compact  with  Sequeen,  an  Indian 
sachem,  from  whom  the  settlers  had  bought  their 
land  with  the  agreement  that  he  should  remain 
among  them.  In  resentment  of  his  wrongs,  he 
brought  some  Pequots  upon  the  town,  who  killed  a 
number  of  people,  captured  others,  and  did  much 


2  50  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

damage.  As  all  the  settlements  taken  together 
numbered  only  about  eight  hundred  persons,  and 
not  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  them,  in- 
cluding the  garrison  at  Saybrook,  were  fit  for  mili- 
tary duty,  it  was  clear  that  they  were  likely  to  be 
wiped  out  at  any  hour.  The  Court  complained  of 
Endicott's  expedition,  and  asked  to  have  the  war 
pushed;  but  hearing  that  Massachusetts  had  begun 
to  dispute  with  Plymouth  on  the  fine  points  of  a  joint 
attack,  the  endangered  settlers  decided  to  take  mat- 
ters into  their  own  hands.  Representatives  met  at 
Hartford  on  May  i,  1637,  and  within  ten  days  the 
well-trained  soldier,  Captain  John  Mason  of  Wind- 
sor, led  out  the  army  of  the  infant  colony  in  the  most 
important  Indian  war  of  New  England.  He  had 
forty-two  men  from  Hartford,  thirty  from  Windsor, 
and  eighteen  from  Wethersfield ;  in  all,  more  than 
half  of  the  fathers  and  grown  sons  of  the  new  plan- 
tations. The  wives  and  daughters,  nearly  starving, 
did  their  best  to  fill  the  Court's  order  that  one  half 
the  corn  should  be  baked  into  biscuit  for  the  soldiers 
"  if  by  any  means  they  came."  The  little  army  of 
ninety  set  forth  on  their  desperate  enterprise  accom- 
panied by  Uncas  and  some  seventy  Mohicans,  from 
whom  the  settlers  feared  treachery  as  much  as  they 
hoped  for  help.  At  Saybrook,  Captain  Underbill 
from  Massachusetts  joined  them  with  twenty  men, 
and  Mason  sent  back  the  same  number  to  help 
protect  the  towns. 

The  Pequots  occupied  the  forests  from  the  Con- 
necticut eastward  to  what  then  was  called  the  Pequot 
River,   now  the  Thames.     They  had  two  fortified 


CONNECTICUT,   NINTH   COLONY  2^1 

villages,  the  principal  one  about  four  miles  up  the 
Pequot.  Their  scouts  were  posted  along  the  Con- 
necticut and  the  seashore  to  watch  the  colonists' 
movements;  and,  to  throw  them  off  the  scent,  Cap- 
tain Mason  persuaded  his  men,  with  the  aid  of  Mr. 
Stone's  all-night  prayer,  to  disregard  the  orders  of 
the  General  Court,  and  make  a  long  circuit  by  way 
of  Narragansett  Bay,  where,  through  Roger  Wil- 
liams's influence,  they  secured  four  hundred  Narra- 
gansetts.  After  long  overland  marches  they  broke 
into  the  Pequot  stronghold,  under  showers  of  arrows 
from  behind  the  basket-work  wigwams.  There  was 
nothing  to  do  but  set  fire  to  the  village,  which  was 
quickly  destroyed  with  six  or  seven  hundred  of  its 
people,  Sassacus  and  half  a  dozen  others  escaping. 
Only  two  of  the  Englishmen  were  killed;  sixteen 
who  were  wounded  were  carried  by  the  Narragan- 
setts  through  the  forests  to  the  vessels  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Pequot  River.  Meantime  the  Pequots  of  the 
second  village,  when  they  saw  the  fire  and  its  cause, 
rushed  out  upon  the  enemy;  but  Mason  and  his 
vigorous  men  kept  them  at  bay  till  their  wounded 
friends  were  safe,  and  then  began  a  swift  march 
to  Saybrook.  Gardiner  received  the  victors  with 
"many  great  guns";  Hartford  welcomed  them 
with  great  triumph  and  rejoicing  and  praising  God 
for  his  goodness."  The  General  Court  presented 
Mason  with  five  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  another 
tract  was  divided  among  the  little  army.  The 
Pequots  burned  their  other  village.  Sassacus  fled 
to  the  Mohawks,  who  obligingly  sent  his  head  to 
the    English.     Those    who   were   left   of  this  once 


252  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

mighty  nation,  broken  into  small  bands  of  terrified 
men,  women,  and  children,  hid  themselves  wherever 
they  could,  plotting  their  most  horrible  tortures  for 
all  English,  Mohicans,  and  Narragansetts,  till  Mason 
with  forty  men,  and  a  force  from  Massachusetts, 
took  most  of  them  in  a  swamp  near  Greenfield  Hill, 
afterwards  part  of  Fairfield;  although  nearly  three 
hundred  warriors  escaped,  giving  their  pursuers  a 
long  chase.  Those  who  were  not  killed  were  com- 
pelled to  join  other  nations,  some  choosing  the 
Narragansetts,  some  the  Mohicans,  some  the  Long 
Island  tribes.  Others  were  sold  into  slavery  in  the 
colonies  and  the  West  Indies.  The  Pequot  name 
was  wiped  out.  The  warlike  powers  of  the  English- 
men had  so  impressed  the  survivors  and  the  other 
natives  that  their  supremacy  was  not  contested  again 
for  forty  years.  Connecticut  sent  men  at  once  to 
the  "  Pequoitt  Countrey  to  mayntaine  ovr  right  y' 
God  by  Conquest  hath  given  us";  and  they  did 
maintain  it,  though  the  Massachusetts  Colony  de- 
manded a  share  for  its  none  too  creditable  part  in 
the  war.  In  a  tripartite  treaty,  Miantonomo,  the 
Narragansett,  and  Uncas,  the  Mohican,  both  agreed 
that  the  authorities  of  Connecticut  should  be  their 
judges  in  any  future  disagreement. 

By  this  train  of  events,  the  once  insignificant 
Uncas  became  the  foremost  native  in  New  England. 
This  was  so  galling  to  Miantonomo  that  there  was 
no  peace  between  them  nor  security  for  the  colonists 
until,  in  one  of  the  few  Indian  pitched  battles  on 
record,  Uncas  took  his  rival  prisoner,  and,  with 
the  consent  of  the  English,  yielded  to  his  brother 


CONNECTICUT,    NINTH  COLONY  253 

Wawequa  the  savage  joy  of  killing  him  on  the  battle- 
field, which  still  bears  the  name  of  Sachems'  Plain, 
near  what  is  now  Norwich.  For  the  remaining 
years  of  his  life,  the  position  of  Uncas  as  the  great 
chief  of  New  England  was  undisputed.  He  lorded 
it  alike  over  his  own  race  and  the  English  as  far  as 
he  dared,  making  the  colonists  pay  for  their  land 
several  times  over,  appease  him  with  presents  or  re- 
new treaties  when  he  was  out  of  humour,  and  de- 
fend him  from  his  enemies  at  much  trouble  and 
expense.  His  successors  played  the  same  part. 
For  more  than  a  century  they  had  their  reservations 
in  the  several  towns.  They  were  allowed  to  live  in 
their  wigwams  on  the  land  they  had  sold,  plant  their 
crops,  cut  firewood,  hunt  and  fish,  and  do  almost 
anything  they  wished,  all  under  the  protection  of 
the    Englishmen's    law.       It    was    often    said    that 

many  of  the  adventurers  expended  more  in  mak- 
ing the  settlements  in  Connecticut  than  all  the  lands 
and  buildings  were  worth." 

While  the  colony  was  still  struggling  with  the 
Indians  and  with  the  wilderness  for  food  and 
shelter,   in  the  spring  of   1638   Hooker  framed  the 

foundations  principles  "  of  the  government,  which 
he  expounded  in  his  celebrated  Constitution  Sermon 
from  the  first  chapter  of  Deuteronomy:  "  Take  you 
wise  men,  and  understanding-,  and  known  amoner 
your  tribes,  and  I  will  make  them  rulers  over  you." 
Therefore,  he  said,  "  the  choice  of  public  magis- 
trates belongs  unto  the  people  by  God's  allowance, 
yet  must  not  be  exercised  according  to  their 
humours,  but  according  to  the  blessed  will  and  law 


2  54  ^'^^^  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

of  God.  They  who  have  power  to  appoint  officers 
and  magistrates,  it  is  in  their  power  also  to  set  the 
bounds  and  Hmitations  of  the  power  and  place  unto 
which  they  call  them." 

Here  is  the  definition  of  a  democracy  pure  and 
simple.  Such  a  government  these  enlightened  Eng- 
lishmen, born  and  reared  in  the  reigns  of  the  first 
Stuarts,  established  when  they  had  been  less  than 
ten  years  out  of  England.  In  the  dominion  of  their 
king,  without  a  charter  or  patents,  and  upon  the 
estates  granted  to  lords  and  gentlemen,  the  planters 
framed  their  polity  without  reference  to  sovereign 
or  proprietary,  and  laid  their  jurisdiction  upon  every 
foot  of  land  that  had  been  under  tribute  to  the 
Pequots.  A  general  assembly  or  popular  convention , 
was  called  of  all  the  free  planters  of  the  three  towns. 
By  the  adoption  of  this  constitution  on  January  14, 
1639, the  Commonwealth  of  Connecticut  was  erected, 
by  and  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns.  Such  men 
as  the  majority  of  their  fellow  townsmen  admitted 
to  be  worthy  to  vote  in  town-meetings,  became  free- 
men of  the  commonwealth  upon  taking  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  jurisdiction.  Every  spring  they 
chose  their  governor,  six  magistrates,  and  four  depu- 
ties from  each  town  as  representatives  in  the  General 
Assembly.  As  the  two  bodies  not  only  made  the 
laws  but  administered  them,  they  Avere  called  the 
General  Court.  The  magistrates,  called  the  Par- 
ticular Court,  says  Trumbull,  were  vested  with  such 
discretionary  powers  as  no  modern  court  would 
venture  to  exercise.  The  governor  was  required 
to  be  a  member  of  some  rei^ular  church,  must  have 


CONNECTICUT,    NINTH   COLONY  255 

been  a  magistrate,  and  could  not  be  elected  two 
years  in  succession.  The  deputies,  vested  with  the 
whole  power  of  their  towns,  were  to  determine  their 
own  qualifications,  elect  their  own  officers,  and,  on 
occasion,  hold  a  separate  meeting.  Whenever  a  tax 
was  laid,  the  sum  to  be  paid  by  each  town  was  to 
be  agreed  upon  by  a  committee  in  which  all  towns 
were  represented  equally.  They  could  call  any  per- 
son, including  magistrates,  into  question  for  misde- 
meanour, and  deal  with  every  matter  concerning  the 
good  of  the  commonwealth  except  election  of  magis- 
trates. In  the  absence  of  special  laws,  the  rule  of 
the  word  of  God  was  to  be  followed.  Neither  the 
General  Court  nor  the  Assembly  could  be  dismissed 
without  the  consent  of  the  major  part  of  the  mem- 
bers. Trumbull  well  says  that  this  was  one  of  the 
most  free  and  happy  constitutions  of  civil  govern- 
ment which  has  ever  been  formed.  The  formation 
of  it  when  the  light  of  liberty  was  wholly  darkened 
in  most  parts  of  the  earth,  and  the  rights  of  men 
were  so  little  understood  in  others,  does  great  honour 
to  the  ability,  integrity,  and  love  to  mankind  of 
those  who  made  it. 

It  existed  without  material  alteration  for  nearly 
two  hundred  years,  through  the  rapid  growth  of  the 
settlements,  their  temporary  union  with  the  other 
Puritan  colonies,  the  absorption  of  Newhaven,  the 
acquisition,  loss,  and  restoration  of  royal  charter 
rights,  rebellion  against  the  king,  the  assumption  of 
the  powers  of  a  State,  and  independence  as  part  of 
the  Federal  Union.  It  is  not  only,  as  Mr.  Fiske 
says,  the  first  written  constitution  known  to  history 


256  THE   T/IIRTKEiV   COLONIES 

that  created  a  government;  it  is  the  model  of  the 
present  democratic  representative  government  of 
the  United  States. 

F'or  twenty  years  the  governor  and  deputy- 
governor  usually  changed  places  year  after  year. 
In  that  period  John  Haynes  was  Governor  eight 
times  and  Deputy-Governor  five  times;  while  Ed- 
ward Hopkins  filled  the  first  office  seven  times  and 
the  second  six.  To  other  posts  many  men  were  re- 
elected annually  for  a  quarter  and  even  half  a  cen- 
tury, nearly  all  dying  in  office,  to  be  succeeded  by 
their  sons  and  grandsons.  A  deputy  from  one  of 
the  towns  served  in  one  hundred  and  sixteen  suc- 
cessive semi-annual  sessions  of  the  General  Court. 

In  manners  and  customs,  the  people  were,  of 
course,  much  like  those  of  the  other  Independent 
colonies;  their  habits  were  those  of  good  English 
families  modified  by  their  Puritanism  and  the  exi- 
gencies of  their  new  life.  Their  severity  has  been 
misrepresented  through  the  fictitious  '*  Blue  Laws  " 
described  many  years  afterwards  in  a  History  of 
Connecticut  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Peters.  One  strik- 
ing example,  however,  Mr.  Johnston  has  taken  from 
the  colonists*  ow^n  record :  No  person  under  twenty 
years  of  age,  and  no  person  of  whatever  age  who 
was  not  accustomed  to  tobacco,  might  use  it  with- 
out a  certificate  from  some  reputable  physician  that 
it  \A'as  o-ood  for  him,  and  a  license  from  the  General 
Court:  and  anyone  who  had  the  habit  and  no  cer- 
tificate and  license  could  only  use  it  at  least  ten  miles 
from  any  company  and  that  not  more  than  once  a 
day  upon  a  fine  of  six  shillings  for  every  offence. 


CONNECTICUT,   NINTH   COLONY  257 

In  the  year  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitution, 
1639,  a  free  school  for  boys  was  opened  at  Hartford. 
Then  also  some  of  the  founders  of  Wethersfield, 
who  did  much  toward  making  Connecticut  the 
leader  among  colonising  settlements,  pushed  much 
nearer  to  the  Dutch,  adding  to  the  young  common- 
wealth the  towns  of  Stratford  and  Fairfield.  At 
about  the  same  time,  the  strictest  of  all  the  Puritan 
settlements,  the  colony  of  Newhaven  (which  existed 
as  a  separate,  unchartered,  and  unsuccessful  com- 
monwealth for  twenty-five  years)  planted  between 
these  seedlings  and  the  parent  stock  the  towns  of 
Guilford,  Branford,  Newhaven,  and  Milford,  to 
which  they  added  a  little  later  Stamford  and  Green- 
wich, still  closer  to  New  Netherland,  and  Southold 
on  Long  Island.  These,  and  many  other  aggres- 
sions during  their  existence  as  a  separate  colony, 
before  they  fell  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Connecticut, 
increased  the  trouble  with  the  Dutch. 

The  men  of  Connecticut  at  once  began  to  plead 
for  some  sort  of  union  with  New  Plymouth  and  the 
Bay,  for  defence  against  the  Dutch,  Indians,  and 
"  other  foreigners  "  ;  but  it  was  not  until  May,  1643, 
that  commissioners  representing  the  four  Independ- 
ent governments  sigrned  the  articles  of  the  United 
Colonies  of  New  England,  the  beginning  of  the  forty 
years'  league  described  in  the  story  of  Massachusetts. 
Connecticut  then  had  about  three  thousand  people, 
the  same  number  as  New  Plymouth,  and  she  grew 
steadily  stronger  during  the  next  fifteen  years  of 
England's  wholesome  neglect  under  Puritan  rule. 
Saybrook  was  in  charge  of  George   Fenwick,   who 

VOL.  II.  — 17 


258  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

had  come  over  "  with  his  lady"  and  new  settlers; 
but  after  a  time  he  sold  the  entire  Warwick  patent 
to  the  Connecticut  Colony,  under  a  complicated 
agreement  and  assessment  of  duties,  which  were 
not  all  satisfied  until  after  sixteen  years.  This 
purchase,  and  the  duties  on  river  traffic,  led  to  a 
quarrel  with  Massachusetts  lasting  over  seventy 
years,  the  Bay  continually  settling  towns  within  the 
Warwick  patent.  Connecticut  retaliated  by  extend- 
ing her  jurisdiction  over  some  of  the  Massachusetts 
people  on  Long  Island.  This  caused  further  trouble 
with  the  Dutch,  which  in  turn  spurred  the  river 
towns  to  create  what  was  perhaps  the  best  military 
organisation  in  the  colonies.  Train-bands  were  in 
every  settlement,  each  choosing  its  own  officers; 
while  Saybrook,  at  the  people's  desire,  was  placed, 
like  the  military  towns  of  Europe,  under  a  com- 
mander— the  popular  "  Captain"  Mason,  the  head 
of  the  militia.  "  Fight  the  Dutch!"  was  the  cry 
of  the  day;  possibly  aroused  largely  by  the  self- 
seeking  Mohicans'  cock-and-bull  stories  of  what  the 
Dutch  and  their  Indians  were  plotting  for  the  de- 
struction of  the  English.  New  Netherland  was  then 
ruled  by  the  resolute  soldier,  Stuyvesant.  He  gave 
the  English  aggressors  as  much  trouble  as  possible, 
allowed  his  colonists  to  keep  scores  even  if  they 
could,  and  appealed  to  the  States-General.  His 
English  neighbours  believed  that  he  would  proceed 
to  open  war  any  day,  and  they  were  eager  to  antici- 
pate him ;  but  for  the  next  eight  years  they  were 
held  back  by  Massachusetts.  Even  after  news  came 
that  the  mother  countries  were  at  war,  Connecticut 


CONNECTICUT,   NINTH  COLONY  259 

and  Newhaven,  says  the  strongly-biassed  Trum- 
bull, "  were  not  only  obliged  to  put  up  with  all 
former  insults  and  damages  from  the  Dutch,  but 
after  they  had  been  at  great  expense  ...  in 
fortifying  and  guarding  .  .  .  and  had  been  worn 
down  with  anxiety,  watching  .  .  .  they  were 
still  left  to  their  fears  .  .  .  The  General  Courts 
considered  the  Massachusetts  as  having  wilfully 
violated  the  articles  of  union." 

Mutterings  were  heard  that  they  had  at  heart 
their  own  interests  in  relation  to  the  Dutch.  The 
indignant  colonies  appointed  an  agent  to  represent 
their  situation  to  the  Lord  Protector,  "  and  solicit 
ships  and  men  for  the  reduction  "  of  New  Nether- 
land.  Stamford  of  Newhaven,  as  a  frontier  town, 
was  furnished  with  a  guard.  The  Long  Island 
English  were  "  worn  down  with  watching  and 
guarding  day  and  night."  A  frigate  with  forty  men 
was  fitted  out  to  defend  the  coast  against  Dutch- 
men and  to  prevent  Ninigrate,  **  who  ever  since  the 
Pequot  war  had  been  the  common  pest  of  the  colo- 
nies," from  taking  his  men  across  the  Sound. 
Several  of  the  towns  talked  of  rebellion  against  the 
Federation.  Fairfield  voted  to  raise  troops  and 
fight  the  Dutch  on  its  own  account ;  but  the  General 
Court  interfered  and  bound  over  the  "  fomenters  of 
insurrection  "  to  keep  the  peace.  Great  was  the 
rejoicing  when  orders  were  received  from  Parliament 
that  the  Dutch  should  be  treated  in  all  respects  as 
the  declared  enemies  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Eng- 
land. The  General  Court  promptly  sequestered  all 
the  Dutch  property  connected  with  the   House  of 


26o  THE  THIRTEEN  COLOXIES 

Hope  at  Hartford;  and,  on  news  of  the  arrival  of 
Cromwell's  fleet  at  Boston  in  1654,  they  offered  to 
contribute  one  third  of  the  fifteen  hundred  men 
asked  of  the  four  Federated  Colonies.  News  of  the 
peace  put  an  end  to  these  preparations:  but  the 
House  of  Hope  property  was  not  returned,  and 
the  old  animosities  went  on  for  ten  years  longer. 

The  clash  of  arms  in  the  old  histories  now  gives 
place  for  a  time  to  matters  of  reh'gion,  education, 
and  to  long  obituaries  of  some  of  the  founders. 
The  honoured  Governor  Hopkins  left  part  of  his 
estate  *'  to  give  some  encouragement  for  the  breed- 
ing up  of  hopeful  youths  in  the  way  of  learning 
.  .  for  the  public  service  of  the  country  in 
future  times." 

The  colony  was  somewhat  alarmed  over  the 
"  Quaker  invasion,"  and  passed  the  rigid  laws  re- 
commended by  the  Federal  Commission,  though 
never  causing  serious  suffering  under  them.  For  a 
long  time  everything  else  seems  to  have  paled  beside 
the  great  religious  controversy  raised  at  first  in 
Hartford  by  the  new  generation  who  did  not  "  pro- 
fess Christian  experience,"  yet  who  had  been  bap- 
tised, and  wished  their  children  to  be;  who  believed 
in  the  theology  of  the  Congregational  Church,  but 
could  not  conform  to  the  full  terms  of  its  rigid  discip- 
line. Mr.  Stone  of  Hartford,  one  of  the  few  founders 
then  living,  is  said  to  have  led  the  attack  on  the  old 
Connecticut  Independency  and  helped  to  make  the 
breach  through  which  the  first  Presbyterianism  en- 
tered to  mingle  with  New  England  Congregational- 
ism.      The  brethren  of  his  church  took  sides, 


CONNECTICUT,   NINTH  COLONY  26 1 

"  were  so  inflamed,  and  had  such  prejudices  and  un- 
charitable feelings  one  toward  another  that  it  was  with 
great  difficulty  they  could  be  persuaded  to  walk  to- 
gether." 

The  matter  spread  throughout  the  colony,  and  was 
taken  up  first  by  the  General  Court,  then  by  the 
ministers  of  Nevvhaven  and  Massachusetts,  who 
mourned  greatly  over  this  strife,  and  tried  to  com- 
pose the  differences  through  a  general  council  of 
ministers,  or  synod,  at  Boston  in  1657.  This 
gathering  made  an  elaborate  answer  to  the  twenty 
or  more  points  which  had  entered  into  the  contro- 
versy, in  the  Result,  called  the  "  Half  Way  Coven- 
ant." Then  a  public  Thanksgiving  was  proclaimed  ; 
but  several  years  passed  before  the  contentions  were 
quieted. 

John  Winthrop,  "the  younger,"  as  men  still  called 
him,  was  Governor  at  this  time.  For  him  the  bar  to 
re-election  was  removed  from  the  constitution  in 
1660 ;  and  he  was  chosen  annually  until  his  death, 
twenty  years  later,  making  the  longest  and  most  im- 
portant administration  in  the  history  of  the  colony. 
The  founder  of  Saybrook  and  New  London  was  by 
this  time  about  forty  years  old,  known  as  a  "  trusted 
leader  of  men"  and  "  perhaps  the  brightest  orna- 
ment of  New  England  Puritanism."  When  the 
colonists,  after  many  years  of  expense  and  vexa- 
tion, found  themselves  in  possession  of  the  Warwick 
patent  and  good  Indian  title,  they  entrusted  him 
with  the  large  sum  of  i^5oo  and  the  delicate  mission 
of  seeking  a  royal  charter  from  Charles  II.,  lately 


262 


THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 


restored  to  the  throne.  Before  hazarding  this  great 
request,  they  were  careful  to  proclaim  his  Majesty 
and  declare  all  the  inhabitants  his  faithful  subjects; 
and,  although  it  was  nine  months  after  the  corona- 


THE    JUDGES     CAVE. 


tion,  they  were  the  first  of  the  four  Puritan  govern- 
ments to  do  so.  If,  meantime,  they  had  sheltered 
the  Regicides  Whalley  and  Goffe,  they  made  haste, 
as  soon  as  the  fugitives  were  beyond  their  jurisdic- 
tion, to  overwhelm  the  royal  commissioners  with 
warrants,   letters  of  authority,   and   proclamations. 


CONNECTICUT,   NINTH   COLONY  263 

For  sixteen  years  they  must  have  greatly  desired  a 
charter;  but  they  had  neither  acknowledged  the 
Commonwealth  by  a  request,  nor  admitted  this  de- 
fect in  their  political  position  by  the  slightest  record 
of  their  wishes.  Now,  they  sent  a  draft  of  the 
coveted  instrument,  and  set  forth  their  case,  neglect- 
ing nothing  that  furnished  grounds  for  their  claim. 
They  recalled  the  hardships  the  founders  had  en- 
dured, the  settlements  they  had  made,  their  trade, 
and  every  "  improvement,"  their  irreproachable 
government,  the  purchases  and  conquest,  which  en- 
titled them  to  all  the  Pequots'  country,  including 
that  occupied  by  the  weak,  severely  Puritanical  and 
unauthorised  colony  of  Newhaven.  They  appealed 
to  Lord  Say  and  Sele,  who  was  in  high  favour  for 
the  part  he  had  taken  in  the  Restoration,  and  to  all 
other  friends  in  England  who  might  be  of  service, 
while  in  Winthrop  they  sent  a  man  to  whom  his 
birth  and  personality  opened  all  doors.  There  is  a 
story  that  his  audience  of  the  king  was  gained  by 
the  presentation  of  a  ring  which  had  been  given  to 
his  grandfather  by  "  the  murdered  and  sainted 
Charles  I. "  At  any  rate,  within  a  year — over  which 
it  would  be  delightful  to  linger  —  the  charter  was 
won. 


r 

^  0 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    CHARTERED    CONGREGATIONALIST    COMMON- 
WEALTH 

ON  April  20,  1662,  the  royal  seals  were  fixed 
upon  the  letters  patent  to  "  The  Governor 
and  Company  of  the  English  Colony  of  Connec- 
ticut, in  New  England  in  America,"  chartering  for 
an  existence  which  lasted  one  hundred  and  twelve 
years  the  ideal  Congregationalist  Commonwealth. 
It  constituted  them,  under  their  own  system  of 
self-government,  a  body  politic,  with  all  the  powers 
of  an  English  corporation  and  the  rights  of  sub- 
jects living  in  England.  The  territory  granted  was 
"  all  that  part  of  our  dominions  in  New  England 
in  America,"  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  line 
of  the  Massachusetts  Plantation,  and  on  the  east  by 
the  *'  Narrogancett  River,  commonly  called  Narro- 
gancett  Bay,  where  the  said  river  falleth  into  the 
sea,"  and  "  from  the  said  Narrogancett  Bay  on  the 
east  to  the  South  Sea  on  the  west  part ;  with  the 
islands  thereunto  adjoining."  That  this  gave  Con- 
necticut all  of  New  Netherland  to  the  South  or 
Delaware  Bay  was  not  to  prove  of  so  much  import- 

264 


CONGREGA  TIONALIS  T  COMMON  WE  A  L  Til      265 

ance,  as  the  fact  that  the  charter  covered  Newhaven. 
The  legislative  body  henceforth  known  as  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  was  scarcely  altered.  It  consisted 
of  the  governor,  deputy-governor,  twelve  assistants 
and  two  deputies  from  every  town  or  city.  **  No 
more  democratic  charter  was  ever  given  by  a  king." 
Over  the  acts  of  the  Assembly  "  there  was  no  power 
of  revisal  reserved  either  to  the  king  or  to  his  courts 
of  justice,  nor  was  there  any  obligation  imposed  to 
give  an  account  of  their  transactions  to  any  authority 
on  earth." 

The  one  great  change  was  that  the  right  to  vote 
was  granted  to  every  man  who  could  produce  a  cer- 
tificate from  a  majority  vote  in  his  town  that  he  was 
a  person  "  of  a  civil,  peaceable,  and  honest  conver- 
sation," twenty-one  years  old  or  more,  and  taxed 
in  the  lists  for  an  estate  of  at  least  ^200. 

Governor  Winthrop  and  most  of  the  men  then  in 
office  were  re-elected;  three  tried  and  trusted  men 
were  made  custodians  of  the  precious  instrument 
under  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  freemen,  to  whom  it 
belonged.  For  the  next  two  generations,  except 
on  boundary  quarrels,  the  very  scantiness  of  the 
records  bears  eloquent  testimony  to  the  people's 
happiness.  The  government  proceeded  at  once  to 
reclaim,  not  always  without  interest,  the  country 
under  its  patents,  "  casting  the  skirts  of  its  liber- 
ties "  over  settlements  desiring  them  from  West 
Chester  and  Long  Island  on  the  one  side  to  territory 
long  disputed  by  Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts 
on  the  other.  Howls  of  indignation  went  up  to  the 
commissioners  of  the  New  England  Federation  from 


266  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

every  one  of  the  new  commonwealth's  neighbours. 
Connecticut  was  almost  unassailable,  however.  It 
was  willing  to  compromise  to  a  small  extent  if 
thereby  it  could  make  friends  of  enemies;  but  it 
was  also  able  to  fight  to  the  bitter  end ;  weak  it 
never  was.  For  two  years  tedious,  somewhat  high- 
handed, and  most  bitterly  resented  measures  were 
used  to  bring  Newhaven  under  the  jurisdiction  ;  but 
it  was  done  at  length  in  December,  1664.  Nearly 
all  the  ablest  men  of  the  small  colony  were  retained 
for  the  highest  offices,  though  it  was  the  conversion 
of  a  wholly  ecclesiastical  government  into  a  pure 
democracy. 

Connecticut  soon  found  that  the  Merry  Monarch 
had  given  them  nothing  exclusive  in  charter  en- 
croachments. On  the  west  their  pretensions  to  the 
South  Bay  were  cut  off  by  the  King's  grant  of  New 
Netherland  to  his  brother  the  Duke  of  York — a  loss 
which  was  not  without  its  compensations,  for  the 
most  resentful  of  the  Newhaven  people  had  the 
sense  to  prefer  the  government  of  Connecticut  to 
the  Duke's  promises.  On  the  east  it  was  still  more 
galling  to  have  their  boundary  pushed  back  from 

where  the  Narrogancett  falleth  into  the  sea  "  to 
their  own  side  of  the  Pawcatuck  River,  by  the 
King's  grant,  with  a  more  liberal  charter  than  their 
own,  to  the  "  fanatical  rogues  "  of  Rhode  Island. 
In  spite  of  all  their  claims  to  be  loyal  subjects,  the 
Connecticut  settlers  contested  this  royal  act  for  sixty 
years,  and  quarrelled  with  their  neighbours  over 
the  land  known  as  the  Atherton  grants,  which  the 
royal  commission  first  laid  off  as  the  "  King's  Pro- 


CONG REGATIONA LIST  COMMONWEALTH     267 

vince,"  and  placed  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Rhode 
Island. 

The  commission  had  plenty  of  other  boundary 
questions  to  settle  for  Connecticut.  One  was  upon 
the  claims  of  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  who  had  asked 
the  King  for  a  tract  within  the  Connecticut  patents 
which  had  been  drawn  by  his  father  on  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  New  England  Council  in  1635.  The 
commissioners  were  human.  When  the  Connecticut 
Assembly  greeted  them  with  much  cordiality,  and 
presented  them  with  five  hundred  bushels  of  corn, 
they  had  little  difficulty  in  perceiving  that  the 
settlers  of  "  the  Valley"  had  not  only  purchased 
the  plot  from  the  Duke's  father,  but  had  wrested  it, 
with  the  whole  country,  from  the  savage  wilderness, 
while  the  Hamiltons  had  never  made  good  their 
claim  by  a  single  settlement.  The  commissioners, 
in  presenting  these  arguments  to  the  King,  men- 
tioned their  cordial  reception  in  the  colony,  and 
handed  in  the  Assembly's  gracefully  worded  letter 
of  gratitude  for  their  services.  This  placed  Con- 
necticut in  such  a  favourable  light  by  contrast  with 
Massachusetts  that  the  King  denied  the  Duke  of 
Hamilton's  appeal,  and  wrote  to  the  colony  of  his 
•'  praise  and  approbation  "  of  their  "  carriages." 

Amid  all  their  pressing  considerations,  the  people 
here  still  devoted  much  time  to  the  great  questions 
of  church  membership,  and  resolutions  were  passed 
that  the  churches  of  the  colony  should  adopt  the 
platform  of  the  synod.  Connecticut  was  from  this 
time  nominally  on  the  most  liberal  footing  yet  taken 
by  the  sects  that  had  in  half  a  century  grown  out 


268  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

of  dissent   from    the  Church   of  England;   yet   for 
years,    says    Trumbull, 

"the  churches  continued  nearly  in  the  same  situation 
in  which  they  had  been  from  the  beginning.  . 
Elders  and  churches  were  exceedingly  strict,  with  re- 
spect to  those  whom  they  ordained  ;  examining  them 
not  only  in  the  three  learned  languages  and  doctrinal 
points  of  theology,  but  with  respect  to  their  own  heart 
religion.  Also  no  church  could  be  formed  nor  any 
minister  ordained  without  liberty  from  the  General 
Court,  and  the  approbation  of  the  neighbouring  elders 
and  churches." 

The  laws  of  the  colony  had  always  been  kept  in 
manuscript  and  had  been  circulated  by  copies  dis- 
tributed and  read  publicly  in  the  towns.  In  1672, 
they  were  printed  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts — a 
small  folio  with  a  "  preface  sufificiently  solemn  and 
religious  for  an  introduction  to  a  body  of  sermons," 
and  some  seventy  printed  pages,  leaving  about  an 
equal  number  blank,  upon  wdiich  were  wTitten  all 
the  laws  enacted  from  that  time  until  the  last  year 
of  the  century,  when  the  book  w^as  full.  The  As- 
sembly ordered  that  every  family  should  have  a 
copy  of  this  book,  which  was  the  basis  of  the 
'*  codes  "  of  several  other  colonies. 

There  was  much  excitement  here  during  the  four- 
teen months  of  the  second  rule  of  the  Dutch.  After 
New  Netherland  was  reconquered  in  1672,  Connec- 
ticut's ever  ready  "  skirts  "  of  government  were  cast 
over  the  English  towns  on  Long  Island ;  and  when 
the  Duke's  authority  was  restored,  they  still  desired 
this  protection.      So  also  did  the  towns  of  the  dis- 


CON  GREG  A  TIONA  LIS  T   COMMON  IVEA  L  Til     269 

puted  Atherton  grants;  and  Connecticut  quickly 
responded,  that  the  people  "  might  not  live  in  dis- 
solute practices,  to  the  dishonour  of  God,  of  the 
King  and  nation,  and  to  the  scandalising  of  the  very 
heathens."  But  the  King  for  his  province,  and  the 
Duke  of  York  for  his,  did  not  encourage  the  flaunt- 
ing of  these  "  skirts."  The  Duke  took  out  new 
patents  for  the  whole  of  the  Dutch  claim  to  the 
Connecticut  River,  ordering  his  obedient  tool,  Ed- 
mund Andros,  to  take  possession.  In  the  early 
summer  of  1675,  he  arrived  in  his  armed  vessels  be- 
fore Saybrook  fort,  curtly  demanding  surrender. 
The  King's  flag  was  hoisted  and  prompt  refusal 
made  by  Captain  Thomas  Bull,  who  arrived  with 
his  company  in  the  nick  of  time.  Hardly  daring  to 
fire  on  the  royal  colours  or  to  spill  blood,  Andros 
lay  there  the  best  part  of  two  days  before  he  was 
allowed  to  land.  Then,  every  time  he  tried  to  read 
the  Duke's  patent,  Bull  interrupted.  At  length  he 
gave  it  up,  returned  to  his  boat,  escorted  by  the 
town  militia,  and  headed  his  fleet  for  Long  Island 
Sound.  The  Assembly  complained  to  his  Majesty, 
and  the  attempt  was  never  repeated. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  Connecticut 
leaders  determined  to  arrest  the  growing  feeling  of 
independence  on  the  part  of  the  churches.  The 
Legislature  convoked  a  synod  of  clergymen  and  lay 
delegates  of  the  churches  in  the  several  counties, 
who  met  at  Saybrook  in  September,  1680,  and  ar- 
ranged what  is  called  the  Saybrook  Platform,  pro- 
viding for  the  Consociation  of  the  churches  of  a 
county  in  "  councils,"  and  a  general  Association  of 


2/0  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

representatives  of  all  the  churches  in  the  colony  at 
the  time  of  the  civil  election.  This  plan  was  for- 
warded by  the  Governor  with  all  his  great  influence, 
and  became  law  in  the  October  General  Court ;  with 
provision  of  liberty  for  those  who  should  "  soberly 
differ  or  dissent  from  the  united  churches  hereby 
established."  Palfrey  says,  **  These  consociations, 
whose  organisations  have  continued  to  the  present 
day,  gave  no  little  additional  power  to  the  clergy, 
and  a  severer  religion  began  to  prevail  in  Connecti- 
cut than  in  Massachusetts."  Laws  for  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Sabbath  or  Lord's  Day  became  very 
strict. 

Just  before  this  important  religious  event,  King 
Philip  forced  on  New  England  the  fearful  war 
known  by  his  name.  Although  Connecticut  was 
not  directly  attacked,  many  volunteers  and  one 
seventh  of  the  militia  were  in  constant  service,  few 
losing  their  lives  except  in  the  capture  of  the  Narra- 
gansetts'  fort. 

During  this  time  Charles  IL  died,  and  also  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop,  whose  office  was  filled  for  the  next 
fifteen  years  or  so  by  Major-General  Treat.  The 
democracy  had  never  been  so  ready  with  its  homage 
as  on  the  accession  of  James  IL,  whom  the  colonists 
regarded  less  as  their  king,  perhaps,  than  as  the 
proprietor  of  the  great  neighbouring  province  of 
New  York.  But  their  loyal  addresses  had  scarcely 
been  presented  to  the  Privy  Council  before  that 
body  received  Edward  Randolph's  articles  of  high 
misdemeanour  against  their  "  too  liberal  "  charter. 
They  were  charged  with  having  made  laws  contrary 


CONG  REG  A  TIONA  LIS  T   COMMON  IV E  A  L  Til     2/  I 

to  those  of  England,  imposed  illegal  fines  upon  the 
inhabitants,  enforced  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  their 
charter,  neglecting  the  oaths  of  supremacy  and  alle- 
giance—  with  having  forbidden  the  worship  of  the 
Church  of  England,  denied  justice  in  the  courts, 
and  discouraged  and  excluded  from  the  government 
all  gentlemen  of  known  loyalty,  keeping  it  in  the 
hands  of  the  Independent  party.  In  the  next 
spring,  soon  after  the  charters  of  Massachusetts  and 
Rhode  Island  were  vacated  and  the  provisional 
government  of  New  England  was  set  up  under 
Joseph  Dudley,  Randolph  sent  word  to  the  Con- 
necticut Colony  that  writs  of  qito  zvarranto  had  been 
issued  against  them  also,  and  the  time  for  them  to 
appear  in  defence  had  expired  by  reason  of  the 
length  of  his  voyage.  He  said:  "  His  Majesty  in- 
tends to  bring  all  New  England  under  one  govern- 
ment;  and  nothing  is  now  remaining  on  your  part 
but  resignation  of  your  charter.  I  expect  not  that 
you  trouble  me  to  enter  your  colony  as  a  herald  to 
announce  war."  He  advised  them  not  to  be  "  such  a 
scarecrow  as  to  affright  men  out  of  their  estates  and 
liberties  rather  than  to  submit  to  be  happy.  .  .  . 
Sirs,  bless  not  yourselves  with  vain  expectations  of 
advantage,  and  spinning  out  of  time  by  my  delay.  I 
will  engage,  though  the  weather  be  warm,  the  writs 
will  keep  sound  and  good  as  when  first  landed." 

The  Assembly  made  him  no  answer,  but  besought 
the  King's  discontinuance  of  the  proceedings,  tak- 
ing great  care  to  appear  dutiful,  but  engaging  an 
agent  in  England  to  work  for  them.  By  their 
masterly  delays  and  successive  accidents,  the  legal 


72 


THE  THIRl^EEN   COLOXIES 


proceedings  were  never  brought  to  an  issue,  al- 
though in  due  time  Sir  Edmund  Andros  descended 
upon  them  as  Governor-General  of  New  England, 
attended  by  a  showy  company  of  some  sixty  gentle- 
men and  grenadiers.  At  Wethersfield,  where  he 
crossed  the  ferry,  he  was  met  by  a  troop  of  horse, 


THE    CHARTER    OAK. 


which  escorted  him  to  Hartford,  where,  says  a 
friendly  report,  the  train-bands  of  divers  towns 
united  to  pay  him  their  respects,  the  Governor  and 
Assistants  greeted  and  caressed  him  ;  and  there  was 
"  some  treaty  between  his  Excellency  and  them 
that  e\'ening. "  When  he  attended  the  General  As- 
sembly to  make  his  demand  for  the  charter.  Governor 


CONGREGATIONALIST   COMMONWEALTH     273 

Treat  and  others  kept  the  matter  in  suspense  by 
courteous  expostulations,  says  old  Trumbull, 

"  until  the  evening,  when  the  charter  [in  fact  a  copy] 
was  brought  in  and  laid  upon  the  table  where  the 
Assembly  were  sitting.  By  this  time,  great  numbers  of 
people  were  assembled,  and  men  sufficiently  bold  to 
enterprise  whatever  might  be  necessary  or  expedient. 
The  lights  were  instantly  extinguished  and  one  Captain 
Wadsworth,  of  Hartford,  in  the  most  silent  and  secret 
manner,  carried  off  the  charter,  and  secreted  it  in  a 
large  hollow  tree,  fronting  the  house  of  the  Hon.  Samuel 
Wyllys,  then  one  of  the  magistrates  of  the  colony.  The 
people  appeared  all  peaceable  and  orderly.  The  candles 
were  officiously  relighted  ;  but  the  patent  was  gone,  and 
no  discovery  could  be  made  of  it  or  the  person  who 
conveyed  it  away." 

That  is  the  tradition.     The  record  reads: 

"  His  Excellency,  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  Knight,  Cap- 
tain-General and  Governor  of  his  Majesty's  Territory 
and  Dominion  in  New  England,  by  order  from  his 
Majesty  James  the  Second,  King  of  England,  Scotland 
and  Ireland,  the  31st  of  October,  1687,  took  into  his 
hands  the  government  of  this  colony  of  Connecticut,  it 
being  by  his  Majesty  annexed  to  the  Massachusetts  and 
other  colonies  under  his  Excellency's  government. — 
Finis." 

Palfrey  quotes  an  elaborate  account  of  how  in  the 
presence  of  the  entire  Court  and  throngs  of  people, 
the  magistrates  conducted  his  Excellency  into  the 
Court  Chamber,  and  the  Governor  led  him  to  his 
own  seat,  where  he  assumed  the  government,  nam- 

\OL.   II.  — 18 


274  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

ing  some  of  the  former  leaders  to  his  Council. 
Then  he  retired  to  his  onerous  duties  in  Boston  and 
elsewhere,  and  the  Connecticut  people  suffered  for 
nineteen  months,  till  suddenly,  in  April,  1689,  **  the 
amazing  news  did  soon  fly  like  lightning  "  of  Eng- 
land's rebellion  against  James  II.  and  Boston's  out- 
break against  his  Governor.  Thereupon,  by  some 
general  understanding,  a  number  of  delegates  from 
the  principal  towns  and  other  leading  men,  with 
wonderful  swiftness  and  smoothness  restored  the 
entire  government,  ordained  a  day  of  fasting,  and 
then  adjourned  to  meet  again  in  June  and  proclaim 
the  accession  of  William  and  Mary.  A  day  of 
thanksgiving  was  then  appointed,  and  an  address 
sent  congratulating  the  new  sovereigns,  making  a 
brief  statement  of  the  recent  proceedings — dwelling 
on  the  point  that  they  had  not  surrendered  their 
charter,  and  praying  for  its  ratification,  w^hich  their 
Majesties  granted. 

The  five  years'  reign  of  William  and  Mary  and 
the  eight  years  that  William  III.  was  alone  on  the 
throne  were  remarkable  in  America  for  \vhat  they 
did  not  impose  upon  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island. 
While  shearing  all  the  other  colonies  of  more  or  less 
of  their  powers,  he  even  allowed  these  two  common- 
wealths to  choose  their  own  judges  annually,  al- 
though, as  Bancroft  says,  "  the  Crown  by  reserving 
to  itself  the  right  of  appeal,  had  a  method  of  inter- 
fering in  the  internal  concerns." 

During  the  King's  war  the  colony  was  not  in- 
vaded, but,  in  aid  to  those  that  were,  the  towns  not 
only  required  military  service  of  every  able-bodied 


THE    OLD    STATE    HOUSE,    HARTFORD. 
Now  the  City  Hall. 


275 


CONGRE  GA  TIONA  LIST  COMMON  WE  A  LTH     277 

man,  but  a  substitute  from  every  aged  or  infirm 
man  rated  at  more  than  £^0  in  the  list.  Trumbull 
says  that  they  probably  spent  ^12,000  on  this  war, 
and  that  the  whole  amount  of  taxes  was  about 
twenty  pence  on  the  pound.  There  was  much 
righteous  indignation  over  the  King's  commission 
to  Governor  Fletcher  of  New  York  to  take  charge 
of  their  militia.  The  tradition  is  that  when  Fletcher 
came  into  Hartford  and  called  out  the  train-bands 
to  hear  the  reading  of  his  commission,  Captain 
Wadsworth  —  he  who  had  hidden  the  charter  — 
silenced  his  Excellency's  reading  with  the  beating 
of  drums  and  threatened  if  he  were  interrupted  to 
"  make  the  sun  shine  through  "  him.  Wadsworth 
"  spoke  with  such  energy  in  his  voice  and  meaning 
in  his  countenance  that  no  further  attempts  were 
made  to  read  or  enlist  men."  It  was  afterward  ad- 
mitted by  the  King  in  Council  that  Connecticut  by 
charter  rights  controlled  her  own  militia,  although 
his  Majesty  requested  that  one  hundred  and  twenty 
men  should  be  placed  under  Fletcher  during  the 
war.     Fletcher  took  his  revenge: 

"  Upon  almost  every  rumour  of  danger  he  would  send 
on  his  expresses  to  Connecticut;  and  the  Governor  and 
Council  and  sometimes  the  Assembly  were  obliged  to 
meet  and  dispatch  troops  to  one  place  and  another. 
Often  by  the  time  they  had  marched  others  would  come 
to  recall  them.  By  the  time  they  were  returned  some 
new  and  groundless  alarm  would  permit  of  pressing 
orders  to  march  again.  '  In  this  manner  he  almost 
wore  out  the  Governor  and  Council  with  meetings,  and 


2/8  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

beyond  measure  harassed  the  militia  and  occasioned 
great  trouble  and  expense  of  time  and  money  to  both 
officers  and  soldiers.'  The  whole  colony  was  so  troubled 
that  the  Governor  wrote  to  [Fitz  John]  Winthrop  in 
England  to  pray  his  Majesty  for  relief." 

The  relief  came  with  news  of  the  Treaty  of  Rys- 
wick  and  the  displacement  of  Fletcher  by  the  Earl 
of  Bellomont.  Upon  his  lordship's  arriv^al  in  New 
York,  the  colony  presented  its  compliments  by  a 
committee  of  three  of  its  most  creditable  men;  one 
of  whom,  the  Reverend  Gordon  Saltonstall,  the 
Earl  said,  appeared  the  most  like  a  nobleman  of  any 
person  he  had  seen  in  America. 

When  Fitz  John  Winthrop  returned  from  Eng- 
land, the  Assembly,  calling  him  "  their  Common 
Benefactor,"  voted  him  ^^"300,  and  appointed  a 
special  day  of  thanksgiving  for  his  safe  arrival.  At 
the  next  election,  in  1698,  the  aged  Major-General 
Treat,  after  fifteen  years  of  ''judgment  and  honour  " 
in  the  first  office,  was  transferred  to  second  place, 
while  Winthrop  was  made  Governor.  They  were 
retained  thus  for  ten  years,  Winthrop  dying  in 
office  as  his  father  had  done.  Besides  his  excellent, 
though  not  extraordinar}^  ability  as  a  colonial  states- 
man, he  did  much  for  new  industries  by  his  scientific 
knowledge,  as  one  of  the  greatest  *'  chy mists  "  and 
physicians  of  his  day. 

At  that  time  the  education  of  practically  every 
boy  in  the  colony  was  provided  for  by  laws  com- 
pelling towns  of  less  than  seventy  families  to  main- 
tain schools  through  half  the  year,  while  large  towns 


CONGRE  GA  TIONA  LIS  T   COMMON  WE  A  L  Til     2  8  I 


must  do  so  through  the  whole  year,  "  with  able  and 
sufficient  schoolmasters."  The  "  capital  towns  of 
each  of  the  four  counties  "  were  required  to  have  a 
free  grammar  school  where  young  men  might  pre- 
pare for  college,  and  steps  were  taken  for  the  foun- 
dation of  Yale  College  at  Newhaven,  when  Harvard 
was  sixty  years  old. 

While  Queen  Anne's  war  did  not  invade  the  col- 
ony, it  was  aided  by  a  large  tax  and  issue  of  paper 
money,  redeemed  so  wisely  that  it  never  depreciated 

^^\      qPH  IS  BILL  entitles  the  Bearer  to  (^ 

A    receive  S^W<g  'ji'9'y  S,hruM  mm  h 

T)0  JiJi<^^<^y  or  the  Value  thereof  ^ 

"-     5>\ll  If^'  "'^^^^ss:^^'^^*^  ''  iW  ^"^^  ^"^  Silver,  according  to  the  Refo-  ^l 

V  ^l^^U^^^^'l  Jlutions  of  the  QO'WG^JieSS',  held  at  ^ 

<i    ^  \¥%a^^^^/ /«7-'^a:^;iT^,  the  loth^f  ^ay,  1775.    ^!> 


much  below  the  full  value.  Troops  were  placed  in 
the  field,  ready  for  the  defence  of  the  colony ;  every 
settler  on  the  frontier  was  threatened  with  loss  of 
his  land  and  improvements,  besides  a  heavy  fine,  if 
he  deserted  his  plantation.  Each  friendly  Indian 
received  ^10  for  delivering  up  an  unfriendly  one. 

There  were  other  than  war-clouds  in  the  sky. 
Some  suitor  claimed  the  right  to  appeal  to  England 
from  a  decision  of  the  colony's  court.  Dry  as  the 
story  is  now,  it  was  an  absorbing  matter  then ;  es- 
pecially as  time  discovered  that  it  was  merely  one 


282  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

cog  among  many  wheels  set  up  for  the  destruction 
of  this  and  others  of  Charles  II. 's  "  too  liberal" 
charters.  Joseph  Dudley,  a  native  and  Governor  of 
Massachusetts,  was  deep  in  a  conspiracy  with  other 
self-seeking  traitors  in  the  colonies  and  out  of  them, 
chiefly  with  the  disreputable  Governor  of  New  York, 
the  Queen's  cousin.  Lord  Cornbury.  Anticipating 
dizzy  heights  of  favour,  Dudley  was  moving  heaven 
and  earth  to  push  a  bill  before  Parliament  for  the 
union  of  the  colonies.  The  Queen's  ear  was  filled 
with  everything  that  could  be  said  in  favour  of  an 
united  government,  and  in  condemnation  of  special 
charters,  Connecticut's  in  particular.  But  Dudley 
and  his  set  could  not  prevent  the  appointment  of  Sir 
Henry  Ashurst  as  agent  for  the  colonists;  and 
Ashurst  was  more  than  their  match.  The  first  bat- 
tle was  over  before  the  colony  knew  how  Dudley 
and  Cornbury  had  produced  document  after  docu- 
ment of  detailed  accusation  before  the  Queen  in 
Council,  and  how  Ashurst  and  his  powerful  friends 
had  made  such  able  defence  that  her  Majesty  had 
called  for  evidence  and  legal  testimony  from  Con- 
necticut on  the  one  side  and  from  Dudley  and  Corn- 
bury on  the  other.  Then  the  records  of  this  colony 
alone  caught  the  conspirators  in  their  own  snare, 
not  only  giving  the  lie  to  their  accusations,  but  pub- 
lishing the  remarkable  superiority  of  its  government 
and  its  generous  devotion  in  the  royal  wars.  The 
attack  on  the  charters  fell  to  pieces. 

At  that  moment  four  hundred  Connecticut  men 
were  under  arms  in  defence  of  Massachusetts  and 
New  York,   besides  half  as  many  on  guard  in  the 


SIR   RICHARD    SALTONSTALL. 
From  a  steel  Print. 


283 


CON  GREG  A  TIONA  LIS  T  COMMON  WE  A  L  TH     285 

colony,  and  that  while  the  people  were  in  especially 
poor  circumstances.  Little  more  than  i^2000  were 
in  circulation,  and  within  a  short  time  it  had  been 
necessary  to  add  over  two  shillings  on  the  pound  to 
the  whole  list  of  taxes,  which  were  payable  in  coun- 
try produce,  such  as  grain,  pork,  beef,  shipped  to 
Boston  and  the  West  Indies  in  order  to  obtain 
money  and  bills  of  exchange  to  discharge  debts  in 
England  and  elsewhere.  But  the  people  thought 
nothing  of  these  burdens  when  they  heard  of  their 
deliverance  from  the  attacks  on  their  charter.  They 
accepted  it  with  wonder  and  thanksgiving,  and 
showed  their  gratitude  to  God  by  declaring  His 
ministers  and  their  families  for  ever  free  from  taxes 
— as  they  are  to  this  day. 

This  is  linked  in  time,  and  in  sentiment,  no  doubt, 
with  the  election  of  the  Reverend  Gurdon  Saltonstall 
as  Governor  in  1707,  upon  the  death  of  Fitz  John 
Winthrop.      This  godly  minister  of  New  London, 

by  far  the  most  learned  and  able  lawyer  in  the 
colony,"  was  a  great-grandson  of  Sir  Richard  Sal- 
tonstall, a  leader  in  the  Massachusetts  immigration. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  and  had  been  Win- 
throp's  right-hand  man  for  years,  defending  the 
colony's  Indian  title,  and  conducting  all  the  delicate 
correspondence  sent  to  England  for  the  defence  of 
the  charter.  In  spite  of  his  own  self-deprecation,  the 
people  knew  that  he  was  the  man  for  the  time,  and, 
altering  the  constitution,  as  he  never  had  been  a  mag- 
istrate, they  elected  him  and  re-elected  him  for  the 
rest  of  his  life — about  eighteen  years.  During  the 
same  time  Nathan  Gold  was  Deputy-Governor. 


286  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

"  A  clergyman  in  the  chief  magistracy  was  a  new 
thing  in  New  England  ;  but  the  experiment  was  in  this 
instance  grandly  justified.  .  .  .  The  rigour  of  ancient 
opinions  and  manners  was  unavoidably  abating.  There 
was  some  danger  that  the  pendulum  would  swing  back 
too  far.  .  .  .  But  Saltonstall's  hand  upon  the  helm 
of  state  proved  to  be  muscular  and  firm.  To  some  it 
seemed  even  rough  and  heavy.  But  his  abilities,  energy, 
and  various  accomplishments  were  universally  allowed, 
even  when  his  enlightened  public  spirit  sometimes  failed 
to  secure  the  due  estimation." 

It  was  in  his  time  that  the  famous  custom  was 
established  of  the  ministers  preaching  meeting  ser- 
mons *'  to  the  freemen,  on  the  day  appointed  by 
law  to  choose  their  civil  rulers  in  the  towns  where 
they  meet,  proper  for  their  direction  in  the  work 
before  them." 

After  the  first  third  of  this  administration  had 
passed,  at  Queen  Anne's  death,  it  was  said  that  the 
towns  had  increased  from  thirty  to  fifty  during  her 
reign,  each  having  its  meeting-house,  educated  min- 
ister, and  free  school,  which  raised  every  boy  above 
the  servitude  of  ignorance  and  the  hardships  and 
temptations  of  poverty.  The  colony  numbered 
27,500  people,  1500  of  them  negroes,  4000  in  the 
militia,  over  100  sailors.  Most  of  the  people  were 
farmers,  although  many  towns  had  vessels  engaged 
in  fishing  and  trade,  while  ships  were  built  in  all  the 
inlets  on  the  southern  shore.  The  colony  forbade 
the  export  of  timber  except  for  masts,  which,  with 
other  naval  stores,  went  to  England.  Horses,  cat- 
tle, and  provisions  were  shipped  to  the  West  Indies, 


CONGREGATION  A  LIST  COMMONWEALTH     28/ 

in  exchange  for  rum,  sugar,  and  molasses.  Grain 
and  other  provisions  were  sent  to  neighbouring  col- 
onies. Once,  when  grain  was  scarce  in  Massachu- 
setts and  Rhode  Island,  exportation  to  other  places 
was  forbidden. 

"  A  condition  of  society  so  happy  as  that  enjoyed 
by  Connecticut  at  this  period,  especially  during  the 
long  administration  of  Saltonstall,  has  been  rare  in 
the  experience  of  mankind.  She  was  the  happiest 
of  the  colonies  in  New  England."  Even  "  the 
Church  of  England,  which  had  gained  in  Andros's 
time  a  foothold,  especially  in  the  western  part  of 
the  colony,  obtained  a  fair  recognition  of  their 
wishes  from  the  government,"  which  also,  with 
"  parental  care  provided  .  .  .  for  the  poor  and 
sick  and  the  protection  of  injured  persons  in  circum- 
stances not  contemplated  by  the  general  laws.  .  .  . 
It  was  unwearied  in  providing  for  the  comfort  of  the 
Indians,  and  for  their  protection  against  the  rapa- 
city of  their  neighbours,"  or  harm  from  savages  of 
other  parts  of  the  country. 

In  1724,  Saltonstall  and  Gold  were  succeeded  by 
Joseph  Talcott  and  Jonathan  Law,  who  also  held 
their  offices  for  seventeen  years  of  peaceful  pros- 
perity, ruffled  only  by  the  excitement  over  the  vol- 
unteers who  joined  Admiral  Vernon's  expedition  to 
Cartagena  in  George  II. 's  Spanish  war,  and  by  at- 
tacks upon  the  charter  in  England,  when  it  was 
most  ably  defended  by  Jeremiah  Dummer.  Talcott 
was  succeeded  by  Law  for  nine  years,  from  1741  to 
1750.  For"  King  George's  war"  on  the  French, 
the  colony  raised  more  than  a  thousand  men  toward 


288  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

the  capture  of  Louisbourg  in  1745,  and  a  thousand 
more  toward  the  expedition  against  Quebec  that 
never  was  made.  On  Governor  Law's  death,  Roger 
Wolcott  held  his  post  for  four  years,  to  be  succeeded 
in  his  turn  by  Thomas  Fitcli,  whose  twelve  years 
saw  the  country  through  the  final  conflict  with  the 
French.  It  did  not  touch  their  own  territory,  but 
the  Connecticut  people,  besides  a  close  guard  at 
home,  kept  one  thousand  to  fifty-four  hundred  men 
in  the  field,  almost  three  times  as  many  in  propor- 
tion to  the  population  as  the  other  colonies.  As 
always,  the  taxes  were  raised  at  once  as  high  as  the 
people  could  bear  them  cheerfully,  and  substantial 
funds  were  provided  in  short  periods  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  whole  list.  To  aid  in  this,  the  Assembly 
made  annual  contracts  with  the  British  commissary 
to  supply  pork  and  large  droves  of  fat  cattle,  besides 
other  provisions  to  the  value  of  ^^4000  sterling, 
which  was  paid  in  money  or  in  bills  of  exchange. 
Farmers  and  merchants  were  roused  to  their  utmost 
exertions  in  safe  and  prosperous  trade,  which  not 
only  made  money  plentiful  during  the  war  and  kept 
up  taxes  and  credit,  but  opened  ways  for  still  greater 
enterprise  when  thousands  of  men  returned  from 
the  field.  So  the  colony  soon  cleared  off  its  war 
debt,  and  was  saved  the  difficulties  that  long  de- 
pressed some   of   the  others.      Mr.   Johnston   says: 

"  The  close  of  the  French  and  Indian  war  marks  the 
period  when  Connecticut's  democratic  constitution  be- 
gan to  influence  other  commonwealths.  Her  charter 
was  an  object  lesson  to  all,  .  .  .  and  their  growing 
demands   upon   the    Crown    caused    an    equally    steady 


CONGREGATION ALIST  COMMONWEALTH     289 

approximation  toward  the  establishment  of  a  local 
democracy  like  that  which  Connecticut  had  kei)t  iij) 
for  one  hundred  and   fifty  years." 

The  Stamp  Act,  which  struck  more  heavily  at 
this  colony  than  any  other  except  Rhode  Island, 
was  met  by  the  Assembly's  protest  and  instructions 
to  agents  in  London  to  insist  on  **  the  exclusive 
right  of  the  colonies  to  tax  themselves,  and  on  the 
privilege  of  trial  by  jury,"  rights  which  "  they 
never  could  recede  from."  Jared  Ingersoll,  who 
was  sent  out  as  a  special  agent,  became  convinced 
that  he  could  do  nothing,  and,  believing  that  the 
leaders  of  the  colony  would  rather  submit  than  risk 
their  charter,  he  accepted  the  oflfice  of  Stamp  Col- 
lector, and  returned  home.  Little  he  knew  of  the 
eloquence  that  the  ministers  had  been  pouring  forth 
against  this  tax,  or  of  the  organisation  of  the  Sons 
of  Liberty,  overawing  almost  the  entire  population. 
Some  of  them  met  him  as  he  came  home,  and  com- 
pelled him  to  resign  his  office  on  the  spot ;  and  then 
a  thousand  of  them,  mounted  farmers  and  free- 
holders, escorted  him  into  Hartford.  From  that 
time  there  were  few  in  the  colony  who  were  disposed 
to  submit  to  taxation  from  England.  Non-con- 
sumption and  non-importation  agreements  were  kept 
more  strenuously  than  in  many  colonies.  Sympathy 
for  Massachusetts  in  the  Tea  Party,  the  Boston  Port 
Bill,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  struggle  was  shown  by  the 
towns.  Assembly,  and  magistrates,  and  by  the  Gov- 
ernors—  William  Pitkin  during  his  three  years,  and 
Jonathan  Trumbull,  who  followed  him  in  1769  and 
kept  the  helm  during  all  the  rest  of  the  resistance. 


290  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

At  first  the  towns,  as  Mr.  Johnston  describes  them, 

"  in  the  traditional  Connecticut  fashion,  as  if  they  were 
Httle  commonwealths  in  themselves,  .  .  .  met,  voted 
solemn  condemnation  of  the  British  ministry,  appointed 
committees  of  safety  and  appropriated  money  to  buy 
arms  and  powder.  Every  town  sent  in  its  contribution 
to  the  poor  of  Boston,  and  every  committee  ...  a 
long  letter  of  condolence." 

In  May,  1774,  the  Assembly  took  measures  to  di- 
rect this  quietly  gathering  power  of  resistance, 
appointing  military  officers,  ordering  regular  drill, 
sending  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and 
following  that  body's  recommendations.  The  mil- 
itia was  the  first  to  answer  the  call  for  troops  to 
besiege  Boston,  when  the  British  took  possession 
after  the  fights  at  Lexington  and  Concord,  and  the 
first  to  go  to  the  Western  Grants  and  raise  the  force 
of  Green  Mountain  Boys  who  captured  Ticonderoga. 

The  colony  was  entrusted  by  Congress  with  many 
of  its  prisoners  of  war,  among  them  some  of  the  most 
important.  Allegiance  to  the  Crown  was  formally 
renounced  in  May,  1776,  about  two  months  before 
Congress  declared  independence;  and,  in  October, 
the  General  Assembly  proclaimed  the  government 
as  the  "  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  State  "  of 
Connecticut. 


fep'^"^i>^5^,::,^^:4iv\^& 


CHAPTER    XI 

RHODE   ISLAND,    TENTH    COLONY  —  FREE-CON- 
SCIENCE  DEMOCRACIES 

PROVIDENCE 

THE  long  and  broad  bay  of  the  Narragansett 
Indians,  with  its  vine-growing,  well-wooded 
shores  and  its  few  but  remarkable  islands,  was  the 
talk  of  explorers  from  the  year  looo,  when  Leif  the 
Norseman  is  supposed  to  have  won  his  surname, 
**  the  Lucky,"  partly  because  of  his  discovery  of 
this  Vinland.  Verrazano,  in  1524,  said  this  latitude 
(41°  40')  was  "  as  pleasant  as  it  is  possible  to  con- 
ceive " ;  and  none  of  its  charms  were  lost  in  1610, 
when  it  was  explored  by  the  Dutchman  Adriaen 
Block,  whose  eye,  some  say,  was  so  taken  by  the 
colour  of  the  red  clay  on  the  large  island  near  its 
mouth  that  he  named  it  the  red  or  Roodt  Island, 
which  Englishmen  changed  into  Rhode  Island. 

The  shores  were  occupied  on  the  east  by  the 
Wampanoags  under  Massasoit  —  the  friends  of  the 
New  Plymouth  Colony.  On  the  west  were  several 
small  nations,  under  tribute  to  the  warlike  race  at 
the   head    of   the    bay,    the    Narragansetts,   whose 

291 


292  THE  TIIIRTEEN  COLONIES 

friendship  and  trade  were  cultivated  by  both  Eng- 
Hsh  and  Dutch,  especially  while  they  used  the  shell 
money  as  their  currency.  No  attempt,  however, 
was  made  to  take  possession  of  this  mild  and  fertile 
sea-cut  country  until,  in  the  spring  of  1636,  the 
lovable  and  gifted  Roger  Williams  built  the  first 
log  cabin  of  his  colony  —  the  tenth  of  the  Thir- 
teen. He  called  it  Providence,  in  gratitude  to 
Heaven  for  the  grant  of  so  fair  a  resting-place  for 
himself  and  others,  who  were  not  wanted  in  Massa- 
chusetts by  the  Boston  hierarchy,  nor  in  England 
by  the  Established  Church.  Williams  was  a  young 
Welshman  who  had  been  educated  by  the  great 
lawyer  Sir  Edward  Coke,  affectionately  called  his 
son,  and  employed  as  his  secretary.  He  had  taken 
his  degree  at  Cambridge  and  Holy  Orders;  but  soon 
after  had  expressed  views  that  drew  upon  him  the 
displeasure  of  Archbishop  Laud.  So  he  fled  to 
New  England,  and  was  received  with  extreme  cor- 
diality in  Boston  when  he  arrived  there  with  his 
young  wife  in  163 1.  But  the  welcome  suddenly 
cooled  when  he  declined  to  become  the  teacher  or 
assistant  pastor  of  the  congregation  because  it 
would  not  formally  separate  from  the  Church  of 
England,  and  because  he  believed  that  the  civil  au- 
thority should  have  no  power  over  religious  affairs. 
He  was  called  immediately  to  the  church  in  Salem, 
and  made  himself  so  well  beloved  that  the  Boston 
hierarchy  had  to  induce  the  General  Court  of  the 
colony  to  strike  the  town  a  hard  blow  before  the 
people  would  renounce  him.  Then  he  went  to  New 
Plymouth,  where  he  was  a  "  godly  worker  "  for  two 


RHODE   ISLAND,    TENTH   COLONY  293 

years,  meantime  probably  studying  the  Dutch  lan- 
guage from  some  of  his  flock — he  was  able  to  teach 
it  later — and  certainly  acquiring  the  speech  of  Mas- 
sasoit  and  the  friendly  Wampanoags.  But  he 
alarmed  the  authorities  of  both  colonies  by  declar- 
ing that  the  natives  held  the  only  right  to  the  coun- 
\xy,  and  that  the  King's  grant  was  mere  usurpation. 
Salem,  however,  insisted  on  recalling-  him,  although 
his  heresy  was  regarded  as  so  serious  a  menace  to 
the  principles  of  the  Bay  that  it  was  attacked  in 
pamphlets  and  sermons,  debated  with  him  by  the 
clergy,  and  tried  before  the  General  Court.  Nothing 
could  have  served  better  to  bring  out  the  whole  of 
his  conceptions  than  the  answers  he  was  called  upon 
to  make  by  these  attacks.  Every  measure  taken 
to  confound  him  seemed  a  means  to  give  the  widest 
publicity  to  the  principles  of  a  new  religion  and  a 
new  system  of  government.      Says  Hildreth: 

His  vigorous  intellect  had  seized  the  great  idea 
of  what  he  called  '  soul-liberty,'  the  inviolable  free- 
dom of  opinion  ...  on  religion — an  idea  .  .  . 
which,  by  its  gradual  reception,  has  wrought  in  the 
course  of  two  centuries  such  remarkable  changes  in 
Christendom." 

He  declared  that  '*  the  doctrine  of  persecution  for 
cause  of  conscience  is  most  evidently  and  lamentably 
contrary  to  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  at  a 
later  day  he  said  :  "  The  removal  of  the  yoke  of  civil 
oppression,  as  it  will  prove  an  act  of  mercy  and  right- 
eousness to  the  enslaved  nations,  so  it  is  of  binding 
force  to  engage  the  whole  and  every  interest  and  con- 
science to  preserve  the  common  liberty  and  peace." 


294  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

As  Bancroft  says,  this  principle  under  which 

"  the  magistrate  should  restrain  crime  but  never  punish 
opinion,  should  punish  guilt  but  should  never  violate 
inward  freedom,  contained  within  itself  an  entire  reform- 
ation of  theological  jurisprudence.  It  would  blot  from 
the  statute-book  the  felony  of  non-conformity;  would 
quench  the  fires  that  persecution  had  so  long  kept  burn- 
ing; would  repeal  every  law  compelling  attendance  on 
public  worship;  would  abolish  tithes  and  all  forced  con- 
tributions to  the  maintenance  of  religion;  would  give  an 
equal  protection  to  every  form  of  religion.  ...  In 
the  unwavering  assertion  of  his  views,  he  never  changed 
his  position;  the  sanctity  of  conscience  was  the  great 
tenet  which,  with  all  its  consequences,  he  defended." 

In  England,  for  these  opinions,  Williams  might 
have  been  pilloried  and  maimed,  while  in  any  other 
country  except  in  some  parts  of  the  Turkish  Empire 
and  of  the  Netherlands,  he  might  have  been  burned 
at  the  stake.  In  Massachusetts  he  was  given  time  to 
recant,  on  pain  of  banishment  if  he  proved  obsti- 
nate. This  sentence  was  suddenly  altered  to  trans- 
portation to  England — partly  to  offset  charges  that 
certain  "  malignant  practices  against  the  country  " 
were  afoot;  partly  because  among  the  devoted 
friends  who  gathered  at  his  house  in  Salem,  he  had 
continued,   against  the    General  Court's  orders,   to 

broach  and  divulge  his  new  and  strange  opinions 
in  defamation  of  the  magistrates  and  churches,"  and 
planned  a  colony  of  his  own,  "  from  whence,"  said 
Winthrop,  "  the  infection  would  easily  spread  into 
these    churches,    the   people   being   many   of  them 


RHODE   ISLAND,    TENTH   COLONY  295 

much  taken  with  the  apprehension  of  his  gentle- 
ness." Indeed,  they  said  "  he  was  in  the  whole 
course  and  tenor  of  his  life  and  conduct  one  of  the 
most  disinterested  men  that  ever  lived,  a  most  pious 
and  heavenly  minded  soul."  "  Many  hearts  were 
touched  towards  relentings,"  and  "  many  judicious 
persons  confessed  him  to  have  had  the  root  of  the 
matter  in  him."  In  all  the  violence  of  his  persecu- 
tors against  him,  he  said,  '*  I  did  ever  from  my  soul, 
honour  and  love  them,  even  when  their  judgment 
led  them  to  afflict  me."  His  war  was  only  on  the 
spirit  of  intolerance,  not  on  the  intolerant.  To  ship 
him  off  to  England  at  once.  Captain  Underhill  was 
sent  from  Boston  to  Salem.  But  some  kindly  warn- 
ing outstripped  his  pinnace,  and  Williams  left  his 
sick  bed  and  his  home  for  the  woods,  alone,  at 
night,  in  the  dead  of  winter.  He  was  advised,  he 
said  long  afterwards,  by  "  that  ever  honoured  Gov- 
ernor Mr.  Winthrop,"  who  "  privately  wrote  me  to 
steer  my  course  to  the  Narragansett  Bay  and  the 
Indians,  for  many  high  and  heavenly  and  public 
ends,  encouraging  me  from  the  freeness  of  the  place 
from  any  English  claims  or  patents." 

"  For  fourteen  weeks  he  was  sorely  tost  in  a  bit- 
ter season,  not  knowing  what  bread  or  bed  did 
mean,"  but  reaping  what  he  had  sown  among  the 
savages.  As  an  honoured  guest  he  stayed  with 
Massasoit  at  Mount  Hope  for  the  rest  of  the  winter, 
receiving  from  him  a  grant  of  land  on  that  part  of 
the  Seekonk  River  now  known  as  Manton's  Cove. 
Williams  wrote:  "  My  soul's  desire  was  to  do  the 
natives  good,  and  to  that  end  to  have  their  language 


296  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

(which  I  afterward  printed),"  in  the  "  Key  to  tJic 
Indian  Languages  of  America.'' 

**  In  requital  for  their  hospitaHty,  he  was  ever 
through  his  long  life  their  friend  and  benefactor; 
the  apostle  of  Christianity  to  them  without  hire  or 
weariness  or  impatience  at  their  idolatry,  the  pacifi- 
cator of  their  own  feuds,  the  guardian  of  their  rights 
whenever  Europeans  attempted  an  invasion  of  their 
soil." 

Probably  the  only  other  white  man  in  the  whole 
region  was  William  Blackstone,  who  had  left  Shaw- 
mut  to  "  the  lords  brethren  "  of  Boston  and  settled 
on  an  upper  branch  of  the  Seekonk,  which  still 
bears  his  name. 

Before  Williams's  cabin  was  finished  he  received 
a  kindly  notice  from  Governor  Winslow  that  he  was 
within  the  Plymouth  patent  and  would  do  well  to 
take  the  other  side  of  the  river.  That  was  the 
Narragansetts'  country;  but  old  Miantonomo  and 
his  nephew  Canon icus  made  him  welcome.  The 
"  barbarous  heart  of  Canonicus,  the  chief  of  the 
Narragansetts,  loved  him  as  his  son,  to  the  last 
gasp."  So  he  and  his  companions  packed  up  their 
few  belongings  and  in  a  canoe  made  their  way  down 
and  across  the  Seekonk.  At  Slate  Rock  a  party  of 
Narragansetts  who,  perhaps,  had  learned  the  greet- 
ing from  English  traders,  hailed  them  with  the 
familiar  Indian  welcome  of  the  day,  "  What  cheer, 
netop  f  "  "  Netop  "  was  the  natives'  word  for  friend. 
What  Cheer  has  become  the  name  of  the  spot. 

Williams  chose  the  peninsula  between  the  Moos- 
hassuck  and  Woonasquatucket  for  the  new  colony. 


RHODE  ISLAND^    TENTH  COLONY  299 

He  named  it  Providence  in  token  "  of  God's  merci- 
ful providence  unto  me  in  my  distress,"  and  declared 
that  it  should  be  "  a  shelter  for  persons  distressed 
for  conscience."  He  camped  under  the  shade  of 
spreading  trees,  and,  with  hands  more  used  to  a  pen 
than  an  axe,  he  hewed  a  clearing  in  the  dense  for- 
est, and  built  a  cabin  for  his  wife  and  child,  who 
soon  joined  him.  Several  others  came  from  Salem 
and  New  Plymouth  and  built  small  dwellings.  His 
time,  he  said,  *'  was  not  spent  altogether  in  spiritual 
labours;  but  day  and  night,  at  home  and  abroad, 
on  the  land  and  water,  at  the  hoe,  at  the  oar,  for 
bread."  In  the  long  mild  evenings  after  their  busy 
days,  he  and  his  companions  must  have  spent  many 
hours  together,  at  the  doors  of  the  tiny  log  huts, 
earnestly  talking  over  the  events  which  had  brought 
them  thither,  and  the  best  methods  of  carrying  on 
the  management  of  their  community,  for  which 
there  were  no  precedents. 

Probably  it  was  soon  after  the  first  harvest,  that 
Williams  was  warned  that  the  Pequots  were  trying 
to  induce  the  Narragansetts  to  forget  old  feuds  and 
join  them  in  clearing  every  white  man  out  of  the 
country.  Williams  notified  the  Bay,  knowing  well 
that  he  was  the  only  individual  who  could  prevent 
such  an  alliance,  and  when  the  frightened  magis- 
trates appealed  to  him  to  do  so, 

"  The  Lord  helped  me,"  he  wrote  long  afterwards, 
**  immediately  to  put  my  life  into  my  hand,  and  scarce 
acquainting  my  wife,  to  ship  myself  all  alone,  in  a  poor 
canoe,   and  to  cut  through  a  stormy  wind,    with  great 


300  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

seas,  every  minute  in  hazard  of  life,  to  the  sachem's 
house.  Three  days  and  nights  my  business  forced  me 
to  lodge  and  mix  with  the  bloody  Pequot  ambassadors, 
whose  hands  and  arms,  methought,  reeking  with  the 
blood  of  my  countrymen,  murdered  and  massacred  by 
them  on  Connecticut  River,  and  from  whom  I  could  not 
but  look  for  their  bloody  knives  at  my  own  throat  also." 

The  ears  of  Miantonomo  and  his  council  were 
ringing  with  the  losses  and  evils  that  his  race  had 
suffered  and  must  yet  suffer  at  the  hands  of  the 
strangers,  when  Williams  came  in  among  them  — 
the  white  man  who  had  done  them  only  good.  He 
had  eaten  their  bread,  learned  their  language,  de- 
manded their  rights  of  his  fellow-colonists,  he  had 
counselled  them  in  trouble  and  nursed  them  in 
sickness.  He  was  risking  his  life  to  plead  for  his 
countrymen,  at  whose  hands  he,  as  well  as  the 
natives,  had  suffered.  The  council  of  the  Narra- 
gansetts  were  deeply  moved,  and  at  length  they 
rejected  the  importunities  of  the  Pequots  for  an  alli- 
ance. Afterwards,  when  Captain  Mason's  little  army 
landed  on  the  shores  of  this  bay,  on  its  circuitous 
route  from  the  Connecticut  to  the  Pequot  country, 
the  Narragansetts  aided  it  in  the  attack,  which  was 
the  first  stage  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  Pequots' 
prophecy. 

After  this  war,  probably,  Miantonomo  and  Canon- 
icus  gave  Williams  a  deed  to  the  region  in  which  he 
had  settled,  and  for  which  he  had  paid  by  mortga- 
ging his  house  in  Salem.  Then  he  sold  plots  in  this 
"  Grand  Purchase  "  at  thirty  shillings  each  to  set- 
tlers coming  in  to  join  him,  "  until,"  he  said,  "  my 


RHODE   ISLAND,    TENTH  COLONY  30I 

charge  be  out  for  the  particular  lots."  He  reserved 
to  himself  "  not  one  foot  of  land,  not  one  tittle  of 
political  power,  more  than  he  granted  to  servants 
and  to  strangers. ' '  Within  a  year  or  so  the  sachems 
made  him  a  gift  ''  in  consideration  of  the  many 
kindnesses  he  hath  continually  done  for  us,"  to  in- 
clude all  the  fertile  country  between  the  Pawtuxet 
River  on  the  south-west  and  the  Pawtucket  River  on 
the  north-east — with  the  grass  and  meadows  on  the 
latter  stream  and  down  the  western  shore  of  the 
bay. 

The  first  of  his  few  records  of  the  plantation 
shows  that  on  the  eighth  day  of  the  eighth  month 
of  1638,  Williams  gave  the  "  Initial  Deed,"  con- 
taining only  the  initials  of  the  guarantors,  sharing 
his  land  equally  with  twelve  comrades,  '*  and  such 
others  as  the  major  part  of  us  shall  admit  into  the 
same  fellowship  of  vote  with  us."  Soon  afterward 
thirteen  proprietors,  six  settlers,  and  others  to  the 
number  of  fifty-four  men,  had  home  lots  in  the 
' '  Grand  Purchase, ' '  besides  six  acre  lots  on  the  banks 
of  the  several  streams.  Every  settler  improved  his 
grant  under  penalty,  and  was  forbidden  to  sell  to 
anyone  but  an  inhabitant  without  the  consent  of  the 
others.  Thirteen  men  (not  one  of  them  signers  of 
the  Initial  Deed)  agreed  to  this  compact: 

"  We  whose  names  are  hereunder,  desirous  to  inhabit 
the  town  of  Providence,  do  promise  to  subject  ourselves 
in  active  or  passive  obedience  to  all  such  orders  as  shall 
be  made  for  public  good  of  the  body,  in  an  orderly  way, 
by  the  major  assent  of  the  present  inhabitants,  masters 


302  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

of  families,  incorporated  together  into  a  town  fellowship, 
and  such  others  whom  they  shall  admit  unto  them,  only 
in  civil  things." 

The  "  masters  of  families  "  incorporated  them- 
selves into  a  town,  made  an  order  that  no  one  should 
be  molested  for  his  conscience,  and  elected  a  treas- 
urer, who  was  the  only  officer  for  four  years. 

"  In  this  wise,"  says  Arnold,  "  Roger  Williams  and 
his  companions  established  at  Providence  an  anomaly  in 
the  history  of  the  world,  a  pure  democracy,  ignoring  any 
power  in  the  body  politic  to  interfere  with  those  matters 
that  alone  concern  man  and  his  Maker.  .  .  .  Re- 
ligion, ethics,  and  politics  as  now  received,  are  alike  in- 
debted to  him  for  their  fundamental  principles.   .   .   ."  * 

Many  who  sought  this  refuge  were  of  the  small 
and  much  despised  sect  of  dissenters  called  Ana- 
baptists. Williams,  finding  their  opinions  to  coin- 
cide somewhat  with  his  own,  received  baptism  from 
one  of  their  number,  Ezekiel  Holyman,  "  a  poor 
man  late  of  Salem."  Then  Williams  baptised 
Holyman  and  ten  others.  This  was  the  founding 
of  the  first  religious  society  in  that  colony,  and 
stands  in  history  as  the  first  Baptist  Church  in 
America.  The  time  was  probably  1638.  But  Wil- 
liams, whose  mind  was  as  remarkable  for  hair-split- 
ting as  for  its  breadth  and  grasp,  was  not  at  rest 
over  his  baptism.  He  received  another,  and  in  a 
few  months  was  unquiet  about  that,  at  first  waiting 
for  a  new  Apostolic  commission,  but  at  length  find- 
ing the  true  level  of  a  devout  man,  two  centuries 

*  History  of  Rhode  Island. 


RHODE   ISLAND,    TENTH   COLONY  303 

before  his  time,  and  reconciling  himself  to  live  in  a 
perpetual  "  way  of  seeking." 

We  know  almost  nothing  of  how  the  colony  fared, 
except  from  the  third  and  last  of  the  meagre  records, 
which  shows  that  some  children  were  born,  and  that 
in  1640  thirty-nine  men  signed  twelve  articles  of 
agreement.  These  constituted  a  Form  of  Govern- 
ment, devised  by  four  chosen  ''  Arbitrators,"  and 
providing  for  a  board  of  five  '*  Disposers,"  chosen 
by  the  whole  body  of  freemen.  These  Disposers 
were  vested  with  the  general  charge  of  affairs,  the 
distribution  of  land,  the  hearing  and  settling  of  civil 
grievances — although  the  contestants  could  appoint 
their  own  arbitrators.  They  admitted  new  mem- 
bers, after  notifying  the  rest  of  the  community  and 
hearing  any  objections.  Their  reports  were  ren- 
dered at  quarterly  meetings  with  the  freemen,  who 
might  also  be  summoned  to  a  special  meeting,  to 
hear  the  grievance  of  any  of  their  fellow-townsmen. 
In  criminal  cases,  apparently,  the  whole  body  of 
inhabitants,  sat  in  judgment,  to  interpret  the  law  and 
to  enforce  the  penalty.  But  this  polity  was  called 
"  a  hotbed  of  anarchy  "  by  the  fathers  of  the  well- 
developed  Puritan  jurisdiction. 

PORTSMOUTH 

When  Providence  was  about  two  years  old,  in  the 
spring  of  1638,  the  second  Narragansett  colony  was 
planted  at  the  mouth  of  the  bay  on  Aquedneck, 
sometimes  called  Quidnay,  for  short,  the  largest  of 
the  islands.  The  settlers  were  some  half-dozen 
broad-minded  Bostonians  driven  out  of  Massachu- 


304  THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

setts  owing  to  the  religious  controversy  which  arose 
over  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson.  That  famous  lady 
had  declared  that  Mr.  Cotton,  teacher  of  the  Boston 
church,  was  under  a  "  Covenant  of  Grace"  while 
Mr.  Wilson,  the  pastor,  and  nearly  all  other  minis- 
ters of  the  colony,  were  merely  under"  Covenant 
of  Works."  The  slighted  ministers,  upheld  by  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop  and  most  of  the  magistrates,  assailed 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  adherents  as  Antinomians, 
a  term  which  in  the  mouth  of  the  Puritans  was  one 
of  stinging  reproach.  After  Mr.  Cotton  renounced 
Mrs.  Hutchinson's  unpopular  favour,  admitting  that 
she  had  made  him  a  ''  stalking-horse,"  all  who  did 
not  follow  his  example  were  forced  to  leave  the 
colony  so  summarily  that  they  embarked  with  but 
a  general  idea  of  going  farther  south. 

The  leader  of  this  small  exodus,  called  by  Cal- 
lender  "  Puritans  of  the  highest  form,"  was  William 
Coddington,  who  for  seven  years  had  been  one  of 
the  foremost  men  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  its 
treasurer,  a  magistrate,  a  deputy,  a  large  landowner 
in  what  is  now  Quincy.  He  was  "  a  firm,  self-assert- 
ing man  of  business  turn  of  mind,  of  somewhat 
grasping  disposition,"  so  important  as  to  have  been 
spared  all  attacks  in  the  quarrel  until  it  was  clear 
that  he  would  never  desert  the  Antinomians.  Then, 
"  not  willing  to  live  in  the  fire  of  contention,"  he 
took  his  family  from  their  new  home,  some  say  the 
first  brick  house  built  in  Boston.  He  afterwards 
wrote  to  Winthrop,  "  what  myself  and  wife  and 
family  did  endure  in  that  removal,  I  wish  neither 
you  nor  yours  may  ever  be  put  unto." 


RHODE   ISLAND,    TENTH  COLONY  305 

With  him  were  seventeen  men,  some  with  and 
some  without  famihes,  including  the  husband  of  the 
lady  who  had  caused  the  tempest,  whom  Winthrop 
called  "  a  man  of  very  mild  temper  and  weak  parts, 
and  wholly  guided  by  his  wife."  Another  much- 
married  man  of  the  company  was  William  Dyer, 
whose  beautiful  wife  —  afterwards  killed  on  Boston 
Common  for  another  faith  — was  condemned  by  the 
Boston  hierarchy  as  "  notoriously  infected  with 
Mrs.  Hutchinson's  errors,  and  very  censorious  and 
troublesome,  she  being  of  a  very  proud  spirit,  and 
much  addicted  to  revelations."  Other  leaders  were 
John  Clarke,  physician  and  minister,  a  clear-headed 
man  of  influence  and  authority,  who  founded  the 
first  Baptist  Church  on  the  island,  and  afterwards 
won  much  respect  and  favour  for  the  "  Narrogansett 
Plantations  "  in  England.  It  is  said  that  some  of 
the  party  had  helped  Wheelwriglit,  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son's brother-in-law  and  the  first  Antinomian  exile, 
to  plant  Exeter  in  New  Hampshire,  but,  desiring  a 
milder  climate,  had  returned  and  joined  Codding- 
ton.  They  left  Boston  by  boat  to  plant  on  Long 
Island  or  near  the  Delaware;  but,  stopping  to  visit 
Williams,  received  a  welcome  not  easy  to  resist,  and 
tarried  while  he  showed  them  his  bay  and  persuaded 
them  that  they  had  reason  to  look  no  farther.  At 
first  they  selected  a  neck  on  the  eastern  shore  of 
what  is  now  Barrington,  but  the  New  Plymouth 
Colony  declared  that  "to  be  the  garden  of  their 
Patent  and  the  flower  in  the  garden,"  while  they 
laid  no  claim  to  the  islands.  The  home-seekers 
soon  decided  that  a  fair  enough  garden  for  them 

VOL.    II. — 20. 


306  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

was  on  the  fertile  "  Aquetnet,"  which  had  better 
climate,  soil,  and  harbours  than  any  part  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  natural  cliff  defences  toward  the 
mouth  of  the  bay.  Miantonomo  sold  them  the 
entire  island,  together  with  the  grass  of  the  two 
islands  near  by,  for  forty  fathoms  of  white  wampum 
peage,  while  the  local  sachems  received  five  fathoms 
of  black  wampum,  and  the  men  who  vacated  were 
satisfied  with  twenty-three  coats  and  thirteen  hoes. 
Coddington  and  his  companions,  before  leaving 
Providence,  drew  up  and  signed  this  compact,  on 
the  Jewish  model,  simpler  than  that  of  Providence 
or  of  the  Pilgrims: 

"  The  seventh  day  of  the  first  month,  1638.  We 
whose  names  are  underwritten  do  here  solemnly,  in  the 
presence  of  Jehova,  incorporate  ourselves  into  a  Bodie 
Politick,  and  as  he  shall  help,  will  submit  our  persons, 
lives  and  estates  unto  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  King 
of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords,  and  all  these  most  perfect 
and  absolute  laws  of  his  given  us  in  his  holy  word  of 
truth,  to  be  guided  and  judged  thereby. — Exod.  xxiv., 
3,  4;   2  Chron.  xi.,  17." 

All  public  affairs  were  to  be  settled  in  town-meet- 
ing. Coddington  was  elected  the  Judge,  or  chief 
magistrate;  William  Aspinwall,  secretary ;  and  Wil- 
liam Dyer,  clerk.  They  seated  themselves  at  Pocas- 
set,  afterwards  Portsmouth,  around  what  was  called 
Coddington's  Cove,  on  the  northern  end  of  Aqued- 
neck.  They  laid  off  six-acre  lots  for  each  proprietor, 
and  sites  for  a  meeting-house,  an  inn,  and  a  brewery. 
They  formed  a  regular  New   England  town,  to  be 


RHODE  ISLAND,    TENTH   COLONY  307 

governed  and  to  receive  new  members  by  the  gen- 
eral consent.  All  men  between  the  ages  of  sixteen 
and  fifty,  equipped  and  ready  for  drill,  mustered  on 
November  12,  1638,  the  first  militia  in  what  is  now 
the  State  of  Rhode  Island.  Under  Dr.  Clarke  they 
"  gathered"  for  worship,  Winthrop  says  after  his 
prejudiced  fashion,  "  in  a  very  disordered  way;  for 
they  took  some  excommunicated  persons  and  others 
who  were  members  of  the  church  of  Boston  and  not 
dismissed." 

The  plantation  immediately  became  a  magnet  to 
all  sorts  of  people,  especially  outcasts  from  Plym- 
outh and  the  Bay.  In  a  few  years  it  was  necessary 
to  elect  a  constable  "  to  preserve  the  peace  and 
prevent  unlawful  meetings  "  ;  and  next  was  selected 
a  sergeant  "  to  keep  a  prison."  We  have  scant 
knowledge  of  what  else  took  place  until  after  the 
arrival  of  Samuel  Gorton,  a  Quaker,  who  two  years 
before  had  come  from  England  to  Boston,  where  his 
independent  spirit  and  loose  tongue  "  ran  like  a 
pestilential  fog."  He  had  forfeited  his  bond  to 
keep  the  peace  in  Plymouth  and  landed  in  Pocasset, 
with  John  Wickes,  who  shared  his  chequered  fort- 
unes for  a  long  time.  He  was  cordially  received  be- 
cause he  was  "  deeply  imbued  with  the  principles 
of  soul-liberty  "  ;  he  was  admitted  as  an  inhabitant, 
and,  as  a  mark  of  special  respect,  was  listed  as  Mr. 
Gorton.  But  soon  "  his  avowed  principles  and  his 
acts  in  accordance  therewith  "  were  "  so  outrageous 
as  not  to  be  borne  in  Aquedneck."  The  jury  found 
him  guilty  on  fourteen  separate  counts,  for  which 
he  was  sentenced  to  be  whipped  and  banished  from 


308  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

the  island ;  whereupon  he  gaily  called  Wickes  and 
other  reckless  spirits  to  see  what  soul-liberty  they 
might  find  in  Providence. 

NEWPORT 

Soon  after  the  Gorton  troubles,  Coddington  and 
Clarke  led  a  portion  of  the  colony  to  the  other  end 
of  the  island,  and,  in  1639,  set  up  another  town  on 
both  sides  of  the  spring  on  the  rising  ground  above 
the  sheltered  harbour  on  the  south-west.  They  were 
probably  unconscious  that  they  had  chosen  one  of 
the   best   sites   on   the  Atlantic   seaboard  for  their 

new  port."  They  were  joined  by  over  fifty  per- 
sons, two  thirds  of  the  inhabitants  of  Pocasset,  by 
that  time  called  Portsmouth ;  and  twice  as  many 
came  from  other  places  during  the  summer.  One 
of  the  first  resolutions  of  the  town-meeting  was  that 
Dr.  Clarke  and  Nicholas  Easton  should  try  to  obtain 
a  charter  from  the  King,  through  the  then  great 
power  of  young  Henry  Vane,  who,  during  the  3'ear 
of  his  governorship  at  the  Bay,  had  been  an  out- 
spoken champion  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  In  the  next 
year,  Newport  and  Portsmouth  united  under  a  new 
constitution  as  one  colony,  with  Coddington  for 
Governor  and  Hutchinson  an  assistant.  The  latter 
died  two  years  afterwards,  and  his  widow,  in  search 
quite  as  possibly  of  quiet  in  her  genuine  grief  as, 
according  to  her  enemies'  view,  of  fresh  fields  for 
agitation,  removed  to  Manhattan  Island,  "  neare  a 
place  called  by  seamen  and  in  the  Maps  Hell-gate," 
^vhere   before  long  she  and  her  family  of  "  about 


RHODE  I  SLA  AW,    TENTH  COLONY  309 

sixteen  persons  "  met  their  death  by  an  Indian  mass- 
acre, which  fixed  her  name  upon  a  little  stream  not 
far  away.  The  colony  adopted  stringent  military 
discipline,  made  a  formal  treaty  with  the  Narragan- 
setts,  and  chose  a  seal  with  a  sheaf  of  arrows  bound 
together  with  the  motto  Amor  vincit  omnia  to  show 
that  love  was  the  bond  of  this  tiny  new  common- 
wealth. 

"  It  is  ordered  and  unanimously  agreed  upon  that  the 
government  which  this  body  politic  doth  attend  unto  in 
this  island  and  the  jurisdiction  thereof  in  favour  of  our 
Prince  is  a  Democratic  or  popular  government;  that  is 
to  say,  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  body  of  freemen  orderly 
assembled,  or  the  part  of  them,  to  make  or  constitute 
just  laws  by  which  they  will  be  regulated,  and  to  depute 
from  among  themselves  such  ministers  as  shall  see  them 
faithfully  executed  between  man  and  man." 

Mr.  Doyle  says  these  colonial  legislators  were  the 
first  to  speak  of  their  "  state  "  instead  of  their 
"  colony."  They  resolved  "  that  none  be  accounted 
a  delinquent  for  doctrine,  providing  it  be  not  directly 
repugnant  to  the  government  or  laws  established  " 
—  which  did  not  raise  them  in  the  estimation  of 
Massachusetts. 

This  was  the  memorable  time  in  New  England 
when  all  the  settlements  south  of  the  Bay  lived  in 
dread  of  the  Dutch  and  their  Indian  allies.  The 
magistrates  of  Aquedneck  were  as  anxious  as  those 
of  Connecticut  and  Newhaven  to  induce  Massa- 
chusetts to  form  some  sort  of  protective  union  for 
all  English  colonists;  but  the  burden  of  the  Narra- 


3IO  THE  r III R TEEN  COLONIES 

gansett  settlers'  appeal  was  "  for  gaining  the  In- 
dians by  justice  and  kindness,  and  declaring  dislike 
of  such  as  would  have  them  rooted  out  as  being  of 
the  accursed  race  of  Ham."  The  orthodox  Puritans, 
however,  framed  their  federation  without  any  con- 
nection with  Antinomians  and  Anabaptists,  although 
theirs  perhaps  was  the  most  exposed  of  all  the  colo- 
nies. Four  years  later,  and  again  four  years  after 
that,  these  towns,  and  Providence,  too,  appealed  to 
be  included  :  but  each  time  they  were  refused,  un- 
less they  would  annex  themselves  either  to  New 
Plymouth  or  to  Massachusetts.  Certainly,  as  yet, 
they  had  not  proved  even  well  enough  governed 
according  to  their  own  principles  for  an  orderly 
community  of  the  broadest  tolerance  to  be  anxious 
for  a  connection  with  them. 

WARWICK 

Gorton  and  his  companions,  meantime,  as  Wil- 
liams said,  so  "  bewitched  and  bemadded  "  poor 
Providence  that  he  seriously  thought  of  removing 
his  family  to  Patience  Island.  Then  they  betook 
themselves  off  to  the  southern  outskirts  of  his 
colony,  making  a  plantation  of  their  own  at  Paw- 
tuxet,  now  Cranston,  and  threw  the  neighbouring 
settlers    of    the   "  Pawtuxet   Purchase  "    into    such 

tumultuous  hubbub,"  even  causing  bloodshed, 
that  they  sent  an  appeal  to  the  powerful  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts  to  rid  them  of  the  trouble- 
some invaders.  The  General  Court,  first  requir- 
ing the  abused  settlers  to  make  formal  submission 
to   the   Massachusetts  jurisdiction,   summoned   the 


RHODE  ISLAND,    TENTH  COLONY  311 

Gortonites  to  Boston  to  make  good  their  claim  to 
the  land  they  occupied.  Instead  of  answering,  the 
trouble-makers  removed  farther  south,  making  a 
purchase  of  their  own  from  the  local  sachems, 
Saconoco  and  Pomham,  under  Miantonomo,  on 
what  is  now  Greenwich  Bay,  including  most  of  the 
land  now  covered  by  Warwick  and  Coventry.  At 
Shawomet,  about  a  dozen  miles  south  of  Provi- 
dence, they,  with  several  families,  made  a  planta- 
tion for  which  they  agreed  to  seek  a  charter  from 
England.  Within  six  months  Saconoco  and  Pom- 
ham  begged  the  Massachusetts  General  Court  to 
restore  their  land  to  them,  saying  that  they  had 
been  forced  to  sell  it  by  Miantonomo.  The  Bay 
called  on  Gorton  to  disprove  this,  and  received  such 
a  blasphemous  reply  that  they  felt  justified  in  send- 
ing an  embassy  to  Shawomet,  escorted  by  forty 
armed  men,  to  deal  with  the  "  fanatical  heretics." 
The  "  Gortonogese  "  men  sent  their  women  and 
children  into  the  woods,  fortified  their  block-house, 
and  waited,  not  for  the  embassy,  but  for  the  forty 
fowling  pieces  of  the  escort.  Roger  Williams  tried 
to  act  as  peacemaker,  but  Massachusetts  refused  to 
negotiate  with  "  a  few  fugitives  living  without  law 
or  government,"  and  ordered  the  embassy  to  pro- 
ceed. Shawomet  resisted  stoutly,  but  raised  its 
guard  on  Sunday;  Gorton  and  his  men  wished  to 
observe  the  day,  and  believed  that  the  Massachu- 
setts party  would  do  the  same.  The  Puritans, 
however,  seized  the  opportunity  to  put  a  torch  to 
the  block-house,  and  though  they  did  not  succeed 
in  burning  it  down,  they  so  weakened  it  that  within 


312  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

a  few  days  they  were  able  to  force  an  entrance. 
Some  of  the  "  blasphemers  "  made  their  escape,  but 
Gorton  and  eight  others  were  marched  to  Boston, 
and  treated,  they  said,  with  brutality  on  the  way. 
In  a  farcical  trial  for  blasphemy,  they  were  found 
guilty  and  imprisoned  in  different  towns;  but  they 
were  released  later  on  account  of  the  sympathy 
shown  them,  especially  by  the  women  of  the  colony. 
Then,  forbidden  to  spread  their  doctrines,  they  were 
banished  on  pain  of  death,  and  their  arms  given  to 
Saconoco  and  Pomham.  Aquedneck,  forgiving  old 
scores,  received  them  as  "  fugitives  for  conscience' 
sake  from  the  harsh  intolerance";  and  they  re- 
warded the  hospitality  with  admirable  behaviour. 
They  soon  attempted  to  rebuild  Shawomet,  but 
Massachusetts  drove  them  away,  saying  that  as  part 
of  their  punishment  the  land  had  been  restored  to 
the  local  sachems.  While  meekly  living  for  another 
space  at  Aquedneck,  Gorton  outwitted  his  enemies 
by  inducing  Miantonomo's  nephew,  Canonicus,  to 
make  a  formal  declaration  of  the  Narragansetts' 
allegiance  to  the  King  of  England;  and,  taking  two 
sachems  with  him  to  bear  the  submission  of  their 
nation,  he  addressed  himself  successfully  to  the 
newly  appointed  Plantations  Committee  of  Parlia- 
ment, of  which  the  Earl  of  Warwick  was  the  head  as 
Governor-in-Chief  and  Lord  High  Admiral  of  the 
Colonies,  and  young  Henry  Vane  probably  the  most 
powerful  member.  In  spite  of  the  opposition  of 
Winslow,  then  in  London  as  agent  of  New  Plymouth 
and  the  Bay,  Gorton  and  his  comrades  returned  to 
Boston,   probably  in  the  spring  of   1646,   not  only 


RHODE  ISLAND,    TENTH  COLONY  313 

with  patents  to  Sliawomet  but  with  a  letter  de- 
manding their  safety  in  passing  through  the  Bay, 
and  in  their  settlement  even  if  it  were  within  the 
limits  of  that  colony.  No  wonder  Gorton  named 
his  restored  plantation  Warwick.  The  returned 
travellers  were  soon  sent  for  by  Canonicus.  Their 
safe  arrival  after  the  harsh  treatment  and  threats 
they  had  received  from  Massachusetts  convinced 
him  and  his  council  that  the  palefaces  must  be  of 
two  races;  those  who  inhabited  the  Massachusetts 
and  other  places  were  the  well-known  English  whom 
they  first  saw  and  called  Wattacongoes  because  they 
wore  clothes  ;  but  apparently  these  Gortonogese  were 
of  another  race,  and  when  a  few  of  them  came  over, 
the  others  were  alarmed  for  fear  more  would  come 
and  conquer  them.  Clearly  the  Gortonogese  were 
to  be  deeply  respected.  The  Puritans  still  held  the 
plantation  in  contempt,  but  they  could  no  longer 
interfere  with  its  growth. 


'^  ^-  ^ife^.'"  a!  rs.^^  ^i  J%=^ 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE   MOST   LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT   EVER 
CHARTERED 

THE  Gorton  experiences  and  others  convinced 
Providence  and  Aquedneck  of  their  weakness 
as  separate  governments  and  showed  them  that  they 
were  likely  to  fall  under  the  control  of  Massachu- 
setts in  spite  of  themselves,  if  they  did  not  secure 
title  from  England  strong  enough  to  protect  their 
claim.  Williams's  antecedents,  his  charming  man- 
ner and  character,  and  his  power  of  speech,  all 
marked  him  out  as  fitted  for  the  task.  In  England  he 
was  received,  in  1643,  as  a  great  man  and  taken  into 
the  household  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  whom  he  taught 
the  Dutch  language.  He  was  almost  venerated  by 
Parliament  for  his  missionary  work,  especially  his 
"  printed  Indian  labours,  the  like  whereof  was  not  ex- 
tant from  any  part  of  America."  His  very  presence 
seemed  to  move  "  both  Houses  to  grant  unto  him, 
and  the  friends  who  had  settled  with  him,  a  free  and 
absolute  character  of  civil  government  of  his  abode, 
which  was  issued  March  14,  1644;  uniting  the  three 
plantations  into  "  The  Incorporation  of  Providence 

314 


THE   MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT         315 

Plantations  in  the  Narragansett  Bay  in  New  Eng- 
land." With  safe  conduct  through  Massachusetts 
commanded  by  Parliament,  Williams  returned  in 
the  autumn  of  1644.  By  the  same  route  that  he 
had  taken  as  a  fugitive  eight  years  before,  he  reached 
Seekonk,  where  he  was  met  by  an  escort  of  honour 
from  Providence  in  a  flotilla  of  fourteen  canoes  to 
give  a  "  triumphal  welcome  to  him  who  had  now  a 
second  time  earned  the  title  of  their  founder. ' '  But 
this  triumphal  procession  did  not  at  once  lead  the 
towns  of  the  Narragansett  into  a  sound  and  united 
government.  For  nearly  three  years  the  charter 
lay  in  Providence,  merely  so  much  parchment, 
chiefly  because  the  settlers  were  intimidated  by  the 
Massachusetts  people,  who,  besides  making  diplo- 
matic efforts  in  England  towards  having  it  revoked, 
spread  rumours  questioning  its  validity.  They  took 
advantage  of  discontent  among  the  colonists  and 
every  other  possibility  to  extend  their  own  juris- 
diction and  that  of  New  Plymouth  —  which  soon 
claimed  the  islands  as  well  as  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  Narragansett,  and  even  Connecticut. 

At  length,  in  May,  1647,  a  meeting  was  held  at 
Portsmouth  attended  by  Williams  and  other  dele- 
gates from  Providence,  which  planned  a  constitution 
and  laws  which  remained,  at  least  a  substantial  effort 
in  the  right  direction,  for  seventeen  years.  But 
that  was  far  from  a  time  of  perfect  peace.  Bancroft 
says: 

"  The  little  '  democracie  '  which  at  the  beat  of  the 
drum  or  the  voice  of  the  herald,  used  to  assemble 
beneath  an  oak  by  the  seaside,  was  famous  for  its 


3l6  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

'  headiness  and  tumults,'  its  stormy  town-meetings, 
and  the  angry  feuds  of  its  herdsmen  and  shepherds." 

But  they  said,  "  Our  popularitie  shall  not,  as  some 
conjecture  it  will,  prove  an  anarchic,  and  so  a  com- 
mon tirranie ;  for  we  are  exceeding  desirous  to  pre- 
serve every  man  safe  in  his  person,  name,  and 
estate." 

Freedom  of  conscience  "  to  every  man,  whether 
Jew,  or  Turk,  or  Papist,  or  whomsoever  that  steers 
no  otherwise  than  his  conscience  dares"  made  the 
Narragansett  a  harbour  for  all  sorts  of  fanatical  and 
peculiar  sects,  many  of  which  did  no  more  than 
trouble  the  waters  for  a  short  time,  increase  the 
colony's  bad  name,  and  vanish,  leaving  no  trace 
behind  them. 

After  a  few  years  Coddington  went  to  England, 
and  came  back  with  a  commission  as  life  Governor 
or  president  of  Aquedneck  and  the  neighbouring 
island  of  Conanicut.  But  some  said  bluntly  that 
he  had  broken  faith,  and  that  his  rivalry  against 
Williams's  charter  was  for  the  benefit  of  Massachu- 
setts. The  strength  of  his  opposition  lay  mainly  in 
the  Baptist  church  which  Dr.  Clarke  had  organised 
a  few  years  before  and  which  he  led  with  great 
ability.  At  this  time  he  and  two  other  Baptists 
had  been  arrested,  fined,  and  one  of  them  whipped 
for  a  peaceable  though  religious  visit  to  a  sick  friend 
in  Massachusetts.  The  rumour  that  Coddington 
had  anything  to  do  with  these  persecutors  was 
false,  no  doubt,  but  it  affected  the  prospects  of  the 
colony.  Portsmouth  and  Newport  sent  Dr.  Clarke 
to   England  to  protest   against    Coddington's  com- 


m^M 


THE   ROGER    WILLIAMS    MONUMENT. 


THE  MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT         319 

mission  in  the  name  of  his  fellow-colonists,  while 
Providence  and  Warwick  induced  Williams  to  re- 
turn and  have  the  charter  confirmed. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  at  this  same  time 
Providence  and  Warwick  enacted  that  any  master 
of  "  black  mankind  "  shall  **  at  the  end  of  ten  years 
set  them  free,  as  the  manner  is  with  English  serv- 
ants; and  that  man  that  will  not  let  his  slave  go 
free,  or  shall  sell  him  away  to  the  end  that  he  may 
be  enslaved  to  others  for  a  longer  time,  shall  forfeit 
to  the  colony  forty  pounds" — which  then  was 
nearly  twice  the  value  of  a  negro  slave. 

The  tact  of  Williams  and  Clarke  succeeded,  after 
about  a  year,  in  annihilating  Coddington's  "  obstruc- 
tion," although  he  insisted  that  the  revocation  was 
not  "  authentic."  In  the  several  settlements,  mean- 
time, one  officer  was  tried  for  treason,  another  was 
disfranchised  "  upon  suspicion  of  insufferable  treach- 
ery," some  were  "  ruined  by  party  contentions  with 
Mr.  Cottington  "  and  all  were  in  a  ferment,  hold- 
ing rival  assemblies  at  Newport  and  Providence. 
In  addition,  the  leading  traders  of  the  island  towns 
were  anxious  to  do  almost  anything,  even  to  joining 
Connecticut  and  Newhaven,  to  bring  the  colonists 
into  the  war  which  had  broken  out  between  Eng- 
land and  Holland.  At  length  they  rejoiced  quite 
as  much  for  the  spoils  as  for  the  protection  of  their 
commerce,  when  Cromwell's  Council  of  State  sent 
the  "  magistrates  and  free  inhabitants"  authority 
to  "  take  and  seize  Dutch  ships  and  vessels." 
Privateers'  commissions  were  issued,  a  Court  of 
Admiralty  was  established  to  pronounce  judgment 


320  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

on  prizes,  and  volunteers  were  raised  to  act  with 
the  English  on  Long  Island.  Palfrey  relates  that 
Providence  complained  to  Sir  Henry  Vane  that  one 
Newport  captain  plunged  "  himself  and  some  others 
in  most  unnecessary  and  unrighteous  plundering, 
both  of  Dutch  and  French,  and  English  also"; 
v/hile  another  seized  a  vessel  belonging  to  a  town 
of  New  Plymouth  and  a  third  took  a  Dutch  prize 
into  the  harbour  of  Fairfield,  in  the  Connecticut 
Colony,  pursued  by  two  Dutch  vessels  which  block- 
aded the  port.  All  of  this,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  the  beginning  of  Newport's  greatness,  deep- 
ened the  animosity  of  the  Federated  Colonies, 
which,  under  the  Bay's  domination,  were  at  peace 
with  the  Dutch;  and  soon  made  the  Narragansett 
Bay  a  rendezvous  for  pirates,  a  use  for  which  its 
shores  were  wonderfully  adapted.  This  gave  the 
colony  a  worse  name  than  even  their  "  fanatical 
heresy." 

Never  was  a  peacemaker  more  needed  than  when 
Williams  returned  in  the  summer  of  1654,  leaving 
Clarke  to  represent  his"  hotbed  of  anarchy  "  more 
ably  than  almost  any  greater  colony  was  represented 
at  this  time.  Williams  brought  a  sharp  letter  from 
Vane,  urging  the  people  to  unite  and  behave  them- 
selves, saying  that  the  English  Commonwealth 
"  gave  them  their  freedom  as  supposing  a  better 
use  would  be  made  of  it."  Upon  call  for  a  confer- 
ence to  establish  the  government,  each  town  sent  six 
commissioners,  who  voted  that  "  the  rights  of  gov- 
ernment should  henceforth  be  vested  in  a  body  com- 
posed like  itself,"  under  the  system  adopted  in  1647. 


THE   MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT         32 1 

The  people  of  Providence  took  Vane's  reprimand 
to  heart,  and  in  a  town-meeting  in  1654  expressed 
their  gratitude  to  him  in  these  terms: 

"  From  the  first  beginning  of  the  Providence  colony, 
you  have  been  a  noble  and  true  friend  to  an  outcast  and 
despised  people;  we  have  ever  reaped  the  sweet  fruits 
of  your  constant  loving-kindness  and  favour.  We  have 
long  been  free  from  the  iron  yoke  of  wolfish  bishops;  we 
have  sitten  dry  from  the  streams  of  blood  spilt  by  the 
wars  in  our  native  country.  We  have  not  felt  the  new 
chains  of  the  Presbyterian  tyrants,  nor  in  this  colony 
have  we  been  consumed  by  the  over-zealous  fire  of  the 
(so-called)  godly,  Christian  magistrates.  We  have  not 
known  what  an  excise  means.  We  have  almost  forgotten 
what  tithes  are.  We  have  long  drunk  of  the  cup  of  as 
great  liberties  as  any  people  that  we  can  hear  of  under 
the  whole  heaven.  When  we  are  gone,  our  children  and 
posterity  after  us  shall  read,  in  our  town  records,  your 
loving-kindness  to  us,  and  our  real  endeavour  after  peace 
and  righteousness." 

Williams  was  elected  Governor.  Coddington, 
after  about  two  years,  gave  up  his  claim,  entering 
the  Assembly  as  a  deputy,  in  spite  of  some  disturb- 
ance among  his  enemies.  Most  of  the  Pawtuxet 
trouble-makers  moved  away.  Massachusetts  abated 
its  pretensions,  and  the  Rhode  Island  Assembly 
passed  a  law  forbidding  a  citizen  to  place  his  land 
under  any  foreign  jurisdiction,  or  to  seek  to  intro- 
duce any  foreign  power.  In  this  manner  the  con- 
flict of  the  townships  was  quieted  for  about  fifteen 
years.     New  settlers  came  but  slowly  to  all  except 


VOL.  II.— 21 


322  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

the  bustling,  ship-building,  privateersmen's  towns 
on  Aquedneck.  Providence  still  attracted  admirers 
of  Williams,  and  erratic  individuals  of  peculiar  re- 
ligious views  enjoyed  there  the  spirit  of  toleration,  al- 
though they  did  not  extend  it  to  each  other.  One 
of  these  difificult  persons  threw  the  little  town  into 
the  tumult  of  a  free  fight  in  heaven's  name  —  after 
which  Governor  Williams  himself  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  peace  must  be  kept  by  the  arm  of 
the  law.  The  disturbers  were  arrested  and  sent  to 
England ;  but  immediately  there  was  another  out- 
break against  the  new  laws.  Williams  performed 
the  painful  duty  of  arraigning  its  leader,  his  old 
companion  William  Harris,  for  high  treason,  and 
putting  him  under  bonds  for  good  behaviour.  But 
this  gave  such  general  offence  that  at  the  next  elec- 
tion, in  1657,  the  father  of  free-conscience  democ- 
racy was  replaced  in  the  governorship  by  Benedict 
Arnold,  who,  by  the  way,  was  the  owner  of  the  old 
mill  at  Newport,  so  long  believed  to  be  a  monument 
of  the  Vikings.  Arnold's  father  was  the  leader  of  the 
Pawtuxet  purchasers  who  appealed  to  Massachusetts 
against  Gorton,  and  placed  themselves  under  its 
jurisdiction,  starting  the  first  long  chain  of  the 
Narragansett  settlers'  troubles;  his  great-grandson 
was  Benedict  Arnold,  the  traitor  of  the  Revolution. 
The  Quakers,  persecuted  by  other  New  England 
colonies,  naturally  found  refuge  on  the  Narragansett. 
Massachusetts  warned  Governor  Arnold  in  1657, 
"  We  apprehend  that  it  will  be  our  duty  seriously 
to  consider  what  provision  God  may  call  us  to  make 
to  prevent  the  aforesaid  mischief."     The  reply  was 


THE  MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT         323 

polite,  but  mentioned  that  "  freedom  of  different 
consciences  to  be  protected  from  enforcements,  was 
the  principal  ground  of  our  charter  " — "  which  free- 
dom we  still  prize  as  the  greatest  happiness  that 
men  can  possess  in  this  world,"  but  the  Narragan- 
sett  colony  was  willing  to  refer  any  difficulties 
created  by  the  Quakers  to  the  authorities  in  Eng- 
land ;  which  was  the  last  thing  the  Bay  wanted  to 
do.  A  letter  was  sent  to  Clarke  in  England,  say- 
ing: 

*'  For  the  present  we  have  no  just  cause  to  charge 
them  [the  Quakers]  with  the  breach  of  the  civil  peace. 
.  .  .  Have  an  eye  and  ear  open  in  case  our  adver- 
saries should  seek  to  undermine  us  in  our  privileges 
granted  to  us,  and  to  plead  our  case  in  such  sort  as  we 
may  not  be  compelled  to  exercise  any  civil  power  over 
men's  consciences,  so  long  as  human  orders,  in  point  of 
civility,  are  not  corrupted  and  violated,  which  our 
neighbours  about  us  do  frequently  practice,  whereof 
many  of  us  have  large  experience,  and  do  judge  it  to  be 
no  less  than  a  point  of  absolute  cruelty." 

In  1661,  the  first  Yearly  Meeting  of  Friends  in 
America  was  held  in  this  colony. 

After  Oliver  Cromwell's  death,  Clarke  presented  a 
loyal  address  from  his  Assembly  to  the  Lord  Pro- 
tector's son  Richard,  apparently  the  only  notice 
taken  in  New  England  of  that  unfortunate  young 
man's  succession  to  his  father's  uncrowned  kingship. 
Yet,  when  the  Commonwealth  fell,  Clarke  also  ob- 
tained the  favour  of  Charles  II.,  reporting  that  his 
people  had  declared  the  Restoration,  and  ordered 


324  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

their  writs  to  run  in  his  Majesty's  name  —  as  the 
neighbouring    colonies   did    not    until    alarmed   for 
their  safety.     The  Assembly  respectfully  appealed 
for  a  royal  charter,  explaining,  "  It  is  much  in  our 
hearts  to  hold  forth  a  lively  experiment,  that  a  most 
flourishing  civil  state  may  stand,  and  best  be  main- 
tained, with  full  liberty  of  religious  concernments." 
Clarke  presented  their  tolerations  and  their  suffer- 
ings in  shining  contrast  to  the  arrogance  and  perse- 
cutions for  which  Massachusetts  was  daily  sinking 
deeper  in  royal   displeasure.     The  Friends,   whose 
cause  was  represented  successfully  at  Court  by  the 
gifted  Edward  Burroughs,  had  received  hospitality 
on  the  Narragansett  with  liberty  "  to  say  over  their 
pretended  revelations  and  admonitions,"  and  had 
converted    many    of    the    most    respected    settlers, 
some  of  whom  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  Massa- 
chusetts.     Indeed  the  beautiful  Mistress  Mary  Dyer 
had  been  their  victim  so  lately  as  the  week  of  the 
King's  joyful  return  to  England.      Her  husband,  a 
founder  and  leading  officer  of  Rhode  Island,  who 
had  left  Massachusetts  of  his  own  will,  had  written 
an  appealing  letter  to  the  authorities,  as  loving  hus- 
bands, for  the  life  of  a  wife  "most  dearly  beloved  "  ; 
but  as  she  would  not  renounce  her  faith  as  a  Friend 
they    had    hanged   her,    on   Boston   Common,    sur- 
rounded by  militia  to  keep  back  the  crowd  deter- 
mined to  rescue  her.      Lord  Clarendon  had  promised 
Clarke  a  charter  for  his  settlements  and  the  western 
shore  of  the  bay  for  twenty-five  miles  to  the  Pawca- 
tuck  River,  when  the  King  included  that  in  his  ex- 
tensive patents  and  liberal  charter  to  Connecticut. 


THE   MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT  325 

This  territory  between  the  Pawcatuck  and  the  Nar- 
ragansett  had  been  settled  by  an  association  named 
the  Atherton  Land  Company,  from  Humphrey 
Atherton  of  Dorchester,  and  incorporated  by  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts.  They  had  bought 
the  Indians'  title,  but  jurisdiction  had  been  claimed 
by  the  colonies  on  both  sides  in  many  and  hateful 
quarrels.  Arbitrators  had  met  and  parted;  the 
settlers  themselves  had  petitioned  to  be  under  Con- 
necticut, but  the  smaller  colony  would  not  yield  its 
claims  to  the  soil.  As  soon  as  Winthrop  saw  that 
the  question  was  likely  to  endanger  the  prize  he  had 
so  lately  won  for  Connecticut,  he  made  an  ambigu- 
ous agreement  with  Clarke,  afterward  repudiated 
by  Connecticut,  but  sufficing  for  the  moment  to 
make  all  appear  smooth  before  Clarendon  and  the 
King. 

On  July  8,  1663,  his  Majesty  gave  Clarke  a  charter 
yet  more  liberal  and  more  precise  than  Connecti- 
cut's, and  anything  "in  a  late  grant  to  .  .  . 
Connecticut  ...  in  anywise  notwithstanding," 
bounded  the  territory  on  the  west  by  the  Pawcatuck 
River  and  a  line  thence  due  north  to  the  Massachu- 
setts border.  The  story  of  Connecticut  tells  how 
this  boundary  was  disputed  for  nearly  seventy  years. 
On  the  other  side,  matter  for  still  longer  dispute 
with  New  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  was  fur- 
nished in  the  declaration  that  the  Rhode  Islanders' 
limit  was  to  be  "  three  English  miles  to  the  east 
and  north-east  of  the  most  eastern  and  north-eastern 
parts  of  Narrogansett  Bay." 

The  instrument  which  chartered  "  a. body  corpo- 


326  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

rate  and  politic  in  fact  and  in  name  by  the  name  of 
the  Governor  and  Company  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations  in  America,"  authorised  the 
colony's  own  painfully  developed  government, 
wholly  controlled  by  popular  election  and  vested  in 
a  governor,  deputy-governor,  ten  assistants,  and  de- 
puties from  the  towns.  It  asserted,  to  the  world's 
amazement,  that 

"  all  and  every  person  may  freely  and  fully  have  and 
enjoy  his  and  their  own  judgments  and  consciences  in 
matters  of  religious  concernments  .  .  .  they  behav- 
ing themselves  peaceably  and  quietly,  and  not  using  this 
liberty  to  licentiousness  and  profaneness,  nor  to  the 
injury  or  outward  disturbance  of  others." 

No  oath  of  allegiance  was  required  ;  the  laws  were 
to  be  agreeable  to  those  of  England,  and  "  to  the 
constitution  of  the  place  and  the  nature  of  the  peo- 
ple." The  tow^ns  had  the  right  to  admit  freemen, 
and  all  freemen  had  joint  interests  in  the  common 
lands  of  their  respective  towns.  Moreover,  by  this 
charter  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony  were  declared 
by  his  Majesty  free  to  pass  unharmed  through  other 
colonies  and  to  trade  with  such  of  their  people  as 
were  willing  to  do  so,  the  regulations  of  their  gov- 
ernments "  to  the  contrary  in  any  wise  notwith- 
standing." 

Great  was  the  joy  in  every  village  and  farm  on  the 
Narragansett  over  the  arrival  of  George  Baxter, 
"  the  most  faythful  and  happie  bringer  of  the 
charter. ' '  Portsmouth  and  Newport  held  a  ' '  solemn 
reception  of  his  Majesty's  gracious  letters  patent," 


THE   MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT  327 

in  "  a  very  great  meeting  and  assembly,"  where  let- 
ters from  Dr.  Clarke  "  were  opened  and  read  with 
good  delivery  and   attention."     Then   the   charter 
was  carefully   taken   from   its  box,   and  "  read  by 
Baxter,   in  the  audience  and  view  of  all  the   peo- 
ple; and  the  letters  with  his  Majesty's  royal  stamp 
and  the  broad  seal,  with  much  beseeming  gravity 
were  held  upon  high,  and  presented  to  the  perfect 
view  of  the  people."     Unanimous  votes  of  thanks 
were  passed  to  "  King  Charles  of  England,  for  his 
high  and  inestimable,  yea  incomparable  favour"; 
to  the  Lord  High  Chancellor,  the  Earl  of  Clarendon, 
for  his  **  exceeding  great  care  and  love  "  ;  and  using 
Bancroft's  eulogy,  not  theirs,  "  to  the  modest  and 
virtuous  Clarke,  the  persevering  and  disinterested 
envoy,  who,  during  a  twelve  years'  mission,  had  sus- 
tained himself  by  his  own  exertions  and  a  mortgage 
on  his  estate."     The   gratitude   did   not   take   the 
form  of  reimbursing  this  benefactor.     Several  times 
the   Assembly   vainly   laid   a   tax   to   raise   perhaps 
^^400  to  enable  the  good  doctor  to  lift  the  mortgage 
on  his  home  in  Newport.      Providence  and  Warwick 
objected,  Warwick  sending  such  "  an  angry  remon- 
strance "    that   Williams  wrote   the  town   a  letter, 
"  exhorting  it  to  more  becoming  behaviour  "  ;  but 
the    train-band    voted    the    letter    as    "  pernicious 
.      .      .     tending  to  stir  up  strife,"   and   when  the 
Assembly  made  another  appeal  to  them  their  docu- 
ment was  received  with  still  greater  indignation,  de- 
clared to  be  "  full  of  uncivil  language,  as  if  it  had 
been  indicted  in    Hell";   and  the  town  clerk  was 
ordered  to 


328  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

"  put  it  on  a  file  where  imper-tinent  papers  should  be 
kept  for  the  future,  to  the  end  that  those  persons  who 
had  not  learned  in  the  school  of  good  manners  how  to 
speak  to  men  in  the  language  of  sobriety,  if  they  were 
sought  for,  might  there  be  found." 

This  was  but  one  of  many  disturbances,  which 
were  even  more  serious  in  Providence,  upon  every 
effort  of  the  Assembly  to  pay  the  colony's  debt  to 
Clarke,  **  whose  whole  life  was  a  continued  exercise 
of  benevolence."  The  first  generation  of  the  free- 
conscience  democracies  never  found  the  happy  me- 
dium between  liberty  and  licence.  They  were  the 
sowers.  The  next  generation  reaped  a  well-ordered 
freedom,  largely  through  the  spread  of  the  Friends' 
peaceful  doctrines,  which  gradually  prevailed  over 
their  ranting  and  quaking. 

This  time  the  people  were  not  slow  to  make  use 
of  their  charter  privileges.  Reorganisation  was 
mostly  a  matter  of  form.  Arnold  was  re-elected  as 
Governor.  Then,  for  the  last  time,  Roger  Williams, 
who  had  gradually  withdrawn  from  public  life,  was 
recalled  to  serve  on  the  first  Board  of  Assistants. 
Bancroft  says: 

"  This  charter  of  government  establishing  a  political 
system  which  few  besides  the  Rhode  Islanders  themselves 
then  believed  to  be  practicable,  remained  in  existence 
till  it  became  the  oldest  constitutional  charter  in  the 
world.  .  .  .  Hardly  thought  to  contain  checks 
enough  on  the  power  of  the  people  to  endure  even 
among  shepherds  and  farmers,  it  protected  a  dense 
population  [which  increased  forty-fold  in  one  hundred 


THE   MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT  329 

and  seventy  years]  and  the  accumulations  of  a  widely 
extended  commerce.  Nowhere  in  the  world  were  life, 
liberty,  and  property  safer  than  in  Rhode  Island." 

His  Majesty's  special  commissioners,  who  arrived 
in  1665,  found  this  the  only  Assembly  in  New  Eng- 
land which  had  nothing  to  fear  from  their  visit,  the 
only  people  who  could  meet  their  King's  men  with 
a  frank  and  cordial  welcome.     They  yielded  with- 
out   hesitation   to   the   commissioners    sitting    over 
them  as  a  Court  of  Appeal,  acting  as  arbitrators  in 
the  boundary  disputes,  and  fulfilling  all  his  Majesty's 
directions.     Yet  the  newly-chartered  planters  were 
not  afraid  to  show  conscientious  scruples  about  tak- 
ing the  oath  of  allegiance  asked  by  the  commission- 
ers, and  yielded  only  to  "  an  engagement  of  fidelity 
and  due  obedience  to  the  laws,   as  a  condition  of 
exercising   the   elective  franchise";  even   this   was 
soon  repealed,  because  it  was  irksome  to  the  Quakers. 
The  commissioners,  on  their  part,  must  have  found 
this  a  pleasant  variation  from  the  cold  and  politic 
suavity   of   the   other   colonies.      To    favour   these 
loyal  subjects,   they  willingly  checked   the   Massa- 
chusetts aggressions  on  the  one  hand,  while  on  the 
other  they  declared  that  the  Atherton  land  was  not 
a  part  of  Connecticut.     With  no  right  to  do  so,  they 
erected  it  and  rebellious  settlers  at  Wickford  into 
the  King's  Province,  in  virtue  of  the  Narragansett 
tribes'    formal    submission   to    the   Crown    through 
Gorton  some  twenty  years  before,  placing  it  "  pro- 
visionally "    under    the   jurisdiction   of   the    Rhode 
Island  and  Narragansett  Colony.     The  right  to  per- 


330  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

manent  control  was  not  secure  until  after  sixty-five 
years  of  bitter  quarrels  with  Connecticut,  on  the 
ground  and  in  the  English  courts. 

The  Assembly  in  an  address  to  the  King  made  a 
flattering  acknowledgment  of  the  commissioners' 
services,  and  his  Majesty's  officers  were  equally 
cordial  in  setting  forth  Narragansett  loyalty  in  the 
report,  which,  true  or  false,  had  great  effect  on  the 
history  of  New  England.  In  the  ten  years  fol- 
lowing the  royal  commissioners'  visit,  the  govern- 
ment was  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  the  leading  founders 
and  others  who  had  adopted  the  Friends'  faith. 
Nicholas  Easton  was  Governor  or  Deputy-Governor 
for  eight  years,  Coddington  for  three.  When  George 
Fox  found  it  "  laid  upon  him  from  the  Lord  to  visit 
the  plantations  in  America,"  this  was  the  only  part 
of  New  England  into  which  he  ventured ;  and  here 
"  the  truth  had  good  reception." 

In  1675,  when  Philip,  the  sachem  of  the  Wam- 
panoags,  started  a  general  war  of  the  natives  of  New 
England  upon  the  white  men  by  an  attack  on  New 
Plymouth,  this  colony,  believing  that  his  quarrel  was 
with  the  Puritans,  held  itself  neutral.  But  it  suffered 
heavily.  Philip's  stronghold,  Mount  Hope  (now  a 
part  of  Bristol), was  in  the  strip  of  country  which  New 
Plymouth  would  not  concede,  even  on  the  King's 
patents,  to  Rhode  Island;  and  the  Wampanoags,  in 
their  destructive  raids,  did  not  stop  to  think  which  of 
the  rival  colonies  had  made  a  settlement  before  they 
fired  it.  Still  worse,  the  Massachusetts  people  in 
December  made  their  attack  on  the  great  fort  of  the 
Narragansetts,  in  the  King's  Province, — within  what 


THE   MOST  LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT  33  I 

is  now  the  town  of  South  Kingston,  and  after  that 
short  and  terrible  campaign,  which  razed  the  fort 
and  broke  up  the  last  great  nation  of  New  England 
Indians,  the  neutral  colony  was  made  use  of  as  a 
hospital  for  many  weeks.  The  next  summer  it  was 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Plymouth  border  that 
Philip  was  tracked  and  killed  by  Captain  Church. 
During  this  great  struggle  between  the  two  races, 
Warwick  was  destroyed  entirely;  many  buildings  in 
Providence  were  burned, while  smaller  places  suffered 
as  severely  as  in  the  fighting  colonies.  Nearly  all 
the  men  were  called  upon  to  defend  their  homes; 
the  colony  was  obliged  to  set  up  costly  defences; 
by  day  and  night,  says  Palfrey,  only  keeping  it 
''  against  the  prowling  savages  by  a  circle  of  patrol 
boats,  constantly  in  motion."  But  they  sent  no 
troops  to  the  war. 

The  figure  of  Roger  Williams,  which  had  been 
seen  but  rarely  for  many  years,  disappears  for  ever 
a  few  years  after  Philip's  War. 

With  all  Charles  II. 's  favour  toward  his  subjects 
on  Narragansett  Bay,  he  made  no  exception  of  their 
trade  in  the  duties  laid  by  the  Navigation  Acts; 
nor  did  his  harsh  brother  when  he  became  James 
II.,  although  the  government  proclaimed  him  with 
great  solemnity,  praying  for  the  **  benign  shines  of 
his  favour  on  his  poor  colony."  The  **  shines  of 
his  favour  "  were  more  for  Randolph,  who  reported 
that  they  violated  the  Navigation  Laws,  raised 
money  by  illegal  impositions  upon  the  inhabitants, 
denied  appeals  to  the  King,  required  no  oath  of 
magistrates   or   legislators,    made   laws   contrary   to 


332  rilR  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

those  of  England,  and  refused  to  allow  the  latter  to 
be  pleaded  in  their  courts.  The  result  was  a  writ 
of  quo  warranto.  Assembly  and  people  appealed 
in  vain  to  the  conscience  of  James  II.  for  the  "  privi- 
leges and  liberties  granted  by  Charles  II.  of  blessed 
memory."  Even  the  King's  Province  was  taken 
from  them  after  the  provisional  government  of  New 
England  was  formed  under  the  distrusted  son  of 
Massachusetts,  Joseph  Dudley,  who  went  thither 
himself,  setting  up  his  offices  and  changing  the 
names  of  the  settlements.  The  rightful  authorities 
followed  him  and  declared  themselves  again,  but 
the  next  thing  they  knew,  their  whole  territory 
was  under  the  new  government  of  the  Dominion 
of  Nev\^  England.  The  Governor,  Andros,  after 
sending  in  vain,  came  himself,  and  although  the 
charter  was  not  formally  vacated,  he  set  up  his  own 
government,  and  broke  the  colony's  seal.  But  in 
the  next  year  or  so  the  colonists  had  only  a  slight 
and  wholesome  taste  of  autocratic  rule,  which  en- 
forced such  quiet  obedience  to  law  and  order  as  they 
had  never  before  known.  Bancroft  says  that  "  the 
Quaker  grandees  "  were  represented  as  such  devoted 
royalists  that  they  did  not  even  desire  a  restoration 
of  the  charter.  But,  in  fact,  after  new\s  came  of  the 
rebellions  against  King  and  Governor-General,  "  on 
May-day,  the  usual  election  day,  the  inhabitants 
and  freemen  poured  into  Newport  "  and  declared, 
We  take  it  to  be  our  duty  to  lay  hold  of  our 
former  gracious  privileges,  in  our  charter  contained." 
They  reinstated  the  officers  whom  Andros  had  dis- 
placed,   excepting    the   Governor.      Walter    Clarke 


THE  MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT  333 

"  wavered,"  and  after  some  delay  his  place  was 
filled  by  the  '*  more  than  octogenarian,"  Henry 
Bull,  one  of  the  old  Antinomian  founders,  who  had 
become  a  Friend. 

A  few  years  later,  the  Assembly  was  asked  if  the 
toleration  of  Rhode  Island  would  be  extended  to 
Jews,  and  answered:  "  We  declare  that  they  may 
expect  as  good  protection  here  as  any  stranger,  not 
being  of  our  nation,  residing  among  us  ought  to 
have."  The  first  company  of  Jews  arrived  in  1655." 
They  whose  race  for  two  centuries  "  from  the  time 
of  their  expulsion  from  Spain  had  had  no  safe  rest- 
ing place,  entered  the  harbour  of  Newport  to  find 
equal  protection,  and  in  a  few  years  to  build  a  house 
of  God  for  a  Jewish  congregation." 

William  and  Mary  were  proclaimed  with  great 
joy,  but  when  his  Majesty  attempted  to  put  the 
militia  of  this  colony,  as  well  as  that  of  Connecticut, 
under  Governor  Phips  of  Massachusetts  and  after- 
wards under  Governor  Fletcher  of  New  York,  quite 
as  resolute  a  resistance  was  made  here  as  in  the 
larger  colony,  and  the  King,  advised  by  the  Crown 
counsel,  gave  up  the  attempt,  securing  these  two 
unfriendly  neighbours  in  the  largest  liberty  enjoyed 
by  any  subjects  of  the  British  Crown.  As  for  the 
war  against  the  French,  the  Governor  wrote  to  the 
King  that  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  the  necessary 
money  to  furnish  the  quota  of  troops  requested  to 
aid  New  York,  but  there  was  no  trouble  in  fitting 
out  privateers. 

*  Daly's,  The  Settlement  of  the  Jews  in  North  America.  Edited 
by  Max  J.  Kohler. 


334  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

These  were  a  sea-faring  people  perforce,  for  the 
obtaining  of  their  food,  and  their  traffic  with  the 
natives  and  with  each  other  required  them  to  be 
expert  mariners,  and  the  superiority  of  their  ship- 
building compelled  the  patronage  of  their  Puritan 
enemies.      More  than  all  this,  as  Mr.  Gay  says, 

"  when  the  tortuous  channel  and  shallow  flats  of  Boston 
Harbour  were  covered  with  miles  of  solid  ice,  when  the 
bay  of  New  York  was  a  firm  roadway  from  [the]  fort 
.  .  .  to  Staten  Island,  the  mighty  current  of  the  Gulf 
Stream  kept  open  this  harbour  at  a  central  point  in  the 
long  coast-line  of  the  colonies,  not  only  as  a  refuge  for 
the  small  vessels  of  the  lively  American  trade,  but  where 
*  lawful  privateers  in  time  of  war  could  .  .  .  easily 
refit,  .  .  .  run  in  with  their  prizes,  or  land  their 
plunder.  More  than  once  during  those  years,  when  a 
Frenchman  was  seen  in  the  offing,  a  well-manned  ship 
hurried  out  of  Newport  harbour  in  pursuit,  and  after  a 
gallant  fight  sailed  back  again  with  a  prize  in  tow.' 
When  the  war  was  over,  and  privateers  turned  pirates 
the  '  court  of  admiralty  was  not  always  mindful  of 
nice  inquiries  as  to  manifests  and  bills  of  lading,  even  if 
the  legal  existence  of  the  court  itself  was  beyond  ques- 
tion.' " 

The  Lords  of  Trade  sternly  called  the  colony  to 
account  for  their  bay's  notoriety  as  the  hiding-place 
for  every  black  flag  on  the  coast,  but  soon  were  still 
more  indignant  over  their  ''shuffling"  defence, 
and  wrote,  "  Your  letters  arc  so  contrary  to  truth 
and  to  your  duty  we  wonder  how  you  could  write 
them."     But  the  people  never  reformed. 


THE  MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT  335 

In  1697,  the  responsibilities  of  the  governorship, 
which  had  been  shifted  from  so  many  shoulders, 
were  assumed  by  the  able  and  constant  Samuel 
Cranston,  and  carried  for  three  decades.  Palfrey 
says  that  he  put  an  end  to  the  "  Quaker  Dynasty  "  ; 
but  some  of  the  Governor's  contemporaries  declared 
that  he  was  a  "  demi-Quaker,  only  put  in  to  serve 
the  Quakers."  Certainly  he  was  not  there  to  make 
his  fortune  out  of  his  salary,  which  ranged  from  £\Q 
to  ^30  a  year.  The  deputy-governor  received  £6 
a  year;  assistants  £^,  and  were  fined  six  shillings 
for  each  day's  absence  from  duty,  while  deputies  to 
the  General  Assembly  received  three  shillings  for 
each  day's  service.  There  was  much  trouble  in  the 
collection  of  taxes  even  to  support  this  modest  scale 
of  public  expenditure.  The  laws  were  so  "  meanly 
kept  and  in  such  blotted  and  defaced  books  (having 
never  yet  any  of  them  been  printed),  that  few  of 
his  Majesty's  subjects  were  able  to  know  what  they 
were." 

When  Lord  Bellomont  was  sent  out  in  1669  for 
his  extensive  governorship  over  the  royal  provinces 
from  the  Delaware  to  the  St.  Croix,  he  was  author- 
ised also  to  attend  to  the"  disorders  and  irregulari- 
ties" on  the  Narragansett.  After  ten  days'  visit  of 
investigation  to  the  "  infamous  bay,"  "under  more 
than  twenty  heads  he  specified  departures  by  its 
government  and  people  from  the  provisions  of  their 
charter."      He  said : 

"  The  place  has  been  greatly  enriched  "  by  piratical 
expeditions  of  "  private  men-of-war  to  Madagaska  and 


336  THE   THIRTEEN   COLOXIES 

the  seas  of  India."  Their  agent  in  England  though 
"  one  of  their  Council,  yet  keeps  a  little  blind  rum-house 
where  the  Indians  are  his  best  customers."  The 
Deputy-Governor  was  "  a  brutish  man  of  very  corrupt 
or  no  principles  in  religion,  and  generally  known  to  be 
so  by  the  people.  .  .  .  Assistants  and  Councillors 
who  are  also  Justices  of  the  Peace  and  Judges  of  their 
Courts,  are  generally  sectaries,  ...  of  little  or  no 
capacity,  several  of  them  not  able  to  write  their  names. 
Their  General  Attorney  is  a  poor  illiterate 
mechanic,  very  ignorant.  .  .  .  They  have  never 
erected  nor  encouraged  any  schools  of  learning,  or  had 
the  means  of  instruction  of  a  learned  orthodox  ministry. 
.  .  .  The  generality  of  the  people  are  shamefully 
ignorant,  and  all  manner  of  licentiousness  and  profane- 
ness  does  greatly  abound  and  is  indulged." 

After  his  lordship's  departure  the  government 
wrote  "  letters  of  profuse  and  awkward  compliment" 
to  appease  him  in  behalf,  they  said,  of  "  an  ignor- 
ant and  contemptible  "  people.  They  also  hastened 
to  pass  an  "Act  for  supporting  the  Governor  in  the 
performance  of  his  engagement  to  the  Acts  of  Navi- 
gation." But  they  did  not  mend  their  ways,  and 
the  unloved  Governor  Dudley  of  Massachusetts 
abused  them  roundly  during  Queen  Anne's  reign. 
Her  war  allowed  privateering  again,  and  Dudley  had 
express  orders  to  appoint  their  Admiralty  officers  as 
well  as  to  command  their  militia.  They  gladly  took 
out  letters  of  marque,  but  would  do  nothing  afield. 
Although,  Dudley  said,  they  had  two  thousand  men 
under  arms  and  some  "  men  of  very  good  estates, 
ability,  and  loyalty,"  kept  out  of  the  government  by 


THE   MOST   LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT 


337 


the  Quakers,  he  could  not  induce  them  to  do  any- 
thing until  the  French  Indians'  attack  on  Deerfield, 
Massachusetts,  in  May,  1704,  had  sent  a  shock  of 
compassionate  terror  through  the  country.  Then 
some  volunteers  went  into  the  conflict,  the  Assem- 
bly providing  for  their  pay.  The  next  year  they 
raised  a  company  of  forty-eight  men,  and  authorised 


the  Governor  to  march  them  into  "  neighbouring 
governments,  as  necessity  might  require."  They 
sent  a  vessel  and  eighty  volunteers  to  the  expedition 
against  Acadie  in  1707,  furnished  two  hundred  men 
for  the  expedition  which  was  not  made  against 
Canada  in  17 10,  and  raised  another  force  for  the 
next  fiasco  in  171 1.  The  expense  was  met  by  bills 
of  credit,  from  which  this  colony  suffered  more 
heavily   and  longer  than  any  other.     "  There  was 

VOL.   II. — 22 


338  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

some  intelligent  distrust,"  says  Palfrey,  "  and  a 
short  suspension  of  the  process;  but  it  was  presently 
revived,  and  paper  money  continued  to  be  made 
down  to  the  year  of  the  framing  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

Meantime,  Dudley  had  a  hard  time  over  their  Ad- 
miralty courts.  He  said  he  **  could  obtain  nothing 
of  them  but  stubborn  refusal,  saying  they  would 
lose  all  at  once,  and  not  by  pieces."  When  the 
Admiralty  Judge  whom  he  appointed  refused  to 
condemn  a  French  prize  brought  in  by  a  Rhode 
Island  privateer,  he  "  was  hooted  down  the  street 
without  any  notice  being  taken  by  any  in  the  gov- 
ernment." Much  more  he  wrote  while  hatching 
the  conspiracy  with  Lord  Cornbury  to  bring  the 
charter  governments  under  the  Crown;  an  ambi- 
tious work  which  recoiled  upon  themselves,  espe- 
cially through  Connecticut's  defence.  In  the  reports 
from  the  colonies  called  for  by  the  Queen,  we  have 
the  Rhode  Islanders'  first  description  of  themselves. 
Then,  seventy  years  after  it  was  founded,  the  colony 
numbered  8,800  persons,  1,500  of  them  freemen,  and 
over  1,300  in  the  militia.  Some  four  hundred  and 
eighty  were  servants,  about  sixty  blacks,  of  whom  a 
few  were  imported  yearly  from  Barbadoes,  and  none 
directly  from  Africa.     There  were  two  counties. 

The  towns  of  Jamestown  on  Conanicut  Island, 
New  Shoreham,  Newport,  and  Portsmouth  were  in 
Rhode  Island  County;  Providence,  Greenwich,  and 
Waring  in  the  county  of  Providence  Plantations, 
besides  Wickford,  Kingston,  and  Westerly  in  the 
King's  Province.     The  Queen  was  dead  and  George 


THE   MOST  LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT  339 

I.  on  the  throne  before  a  grammar  school  was  estab- 
hshed  at  Newport  and  a  schoolhouse  built  at  Ports- 
mouth, but  nearly  twenty  years  passed  before 
education  was  encouraged  at  Providence  by  the  use 
of  "  one  of  the  chambers  of  the  county  house  "  on 
condition  that  the  schoolmaster  should  keep  "  the 
glass  in  constant  good  repair  "  and  erect  "  a  hand- 
some sundial  in  the  front  of  said  house,  both  for 
ornament  and  use." 

When  it  was  found,  during  the  nominal  peace  of 
George  I/s  time,  that  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  did 
not  keep  the  French  Indians  from  harassing  Maine 
and  New  Hampshire,  and  Governor  Shute  of  Massa- 
chusetts asked  for  money  and  men  to  quell  them, 
the  Rhode  Island  Assembly  appointed  "  a  commit- 
tee to  enquire  into  the  merits  of  the  case."  After 
two  years  they  reported  that, 

"  although  the  said  Indian  rebels  deserved  nothing  but 
a  total  extirpation  from  the  face  of  the  earth  for  their 
continual  and  repeated  rebellions,  hostilities,  and  per- 
fidiousness,  yet  it  would  be  by  no  means  justifiable  in 
the  colony  of  Rhode  Island  to  join  with  the  province  of 
Massachusetts  in  the  prosecution  of  said  war,  as  things 
were  at  present  circumstanced  "  for  the  reasons,— that 
Rhode  Island  did  its  part  towards  maintaining  the  com- 
mon defence  by  maintaining  the  maritime  frontier,  that 
the  King's  pleasure  ought  to  be  known,  "who  in  his 
great  wisdom  might  find  out  and  prescribe  ways  to  make 
those  wild  and  inaccessible  subjects  of  his  come  in  and 
tamely  submit  to  his  government,"  that  Rhode  Island 
was  never  advised  with  by  the  province  of  Massachusetts, 
but  had  made  its  own  treaties  and  trade,  and  it  was  not 


340  THE    TIIIKTEEiY   COLONIES 

for  them  to   "  buy  for  the  Massachusetts  this  privilege 
with  the  blood  of  their  young  and  strong." 

They  wrote,  however,  to  Governor  de  Vaudreuil 
of  Canada  that  they  would  enter  the  war  if  he  did 
not  desist  from  his  intrigues  with  the  savages. 

When,  at  length,  the  laws  were  to  be  straightened 
out  of  their  "  very  disordered  condition  "  and 
printed,  "  several  persons  ...  of  the  body 
politic  scrupled  to  take  an  engagement  where  the 
words  '  as  in  the  presence  of  God  '  is  in,  whereby 
the  corporation  was  much  hurt  for  want  of  their 
service  in  the  same  "  ;  so  the  oath  was  not  required. 
Another  entry  shows  that  fine,  whipping,  and  im- 
prisonment were  ordered  for  persons  "  putting  into 
the  hat,  two,  three  or  more  votes  for  one  officer,  at 
the  general  elections  and  other  town  elections." 
For  religious  freedom  the  law  was,  "  what  main- 
tenance or  salary  may  be  thought  needful  by  any 
churches,  congregations  or  societies  .  .  .  may 
be  raised  by  a  free  contribution,  and  no  other 
ways." 

Congregations  of  the  Established  Church  were 
formed  at  Newport  and  Providence  in  about  the 
middle  of  George  I.'s  reign.  Their  historians  after- 
wards named  this  as  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
into  the  colony,  saying,  "  the  people  were  negligent 
of  all  religion  until  about  1722;  the  very  best  were 
such  as  called  themselves  Baptists  or  Quakers. ' '  The 
warders  of  the  free  conscience  democracies  kept  an 
eye  on  the  Anglicans,  with  reason.  The  Newport 
church  within  a  couple  of  years  was  informing  the 


THE  MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT  34 1 

King  that  '*  The  rehgious  and  loyal  principles  of 
passive  obedience  and  non-resistance  are  upon  all 
suitable  occasions  strongly  asserted  and  inculcated 
upon  your  Majesty's  good  subjects  in  this  church." 
By  that  time,  the  General  Assembly  was  not  so 
imbued  with  soul-liberty  that  it  could  uphold  the 
Sabbatarians  of  Westerly,  founders  of  the  Seventh 
Day  Baptists;  but  warned  them  to  cease  their 

"  continual  practice  of  doing  servile  labour  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  appointed  by  the  law  of  the  realm 
as  well  as  of  the  colony  .  .  .  to  be  kept  as  a  sab- 
bath .  .  .  considering  that,  though  the  ordinances 
of  men  may  not  square  with  .  .  .  private  principles, 
yet  they  must  be  subject  to  them  for  the  Lord's  sake, 
and  that,  lest  they  incur  the  further  displeasure  of  this 
Assembly,  and  put  them  upon  a  more  rigorous  method 
of  suppressing  the  aforesaid  enormities." 

A  departure  from  pure  democracy  was  also  made 
about  this  time  by  limiting  the  vote  to  men  possess- 
ing a  freehold  valued  at  ;^ioo,  or  an  annual  income 
of  £2  from  real  estate.  A  freeman's  oldest  son 
shared  his  father's  privilege.  This  law  stood  until 
nearly  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Governor  Cranston's  long  administration  came  to 
an  end  with  his  death  in  1727.  In  the  same  year 
George  II.  became  King,  and  during  the  first  part 
of  his  long  reign  three  more  governors  died  in  office, 
Joseph  Jenckes,  William  Wanton,  and  his  brother 
John  Wanton.  They  were  followed  by  William 
Greene,  Gideon  W^anton,  Stephen  Hopkins,  and 
Samuel  Ward ;   the  last  two   keeping  the  chair   in 


342  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

irregular  rotation  through  most  of  the  important 
time  when  the  King  was  drawing  the  cords  tighter 
around  colonial  liberties.  The  good  Jenckes's  five 
years'  service  closed  in  the  midst  of  his  brave  fight 
with  the  Assembly  against  the  issue  of  more  paper 
money.  In  a  vain  effort  to  save  the  colony  from 
increasing  its  financial  distress,  he  had  appealed  to 
England ;  but  the  Crown  lawyers  gave  the  opinion 
that  by  the  charter,  which  then  had  been  in  existence 
some  seventy  years,  **  no  negative  voice  was  given 
to  the  governor"  nor  was  '*  any  power  reserved  to 
the  Crown  of  approving  or  disapproving  the  laws," 
whose  validity  depended  on  nothing  but  their  being 
"  as  near  as  might  be,  agreeable  to  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land, regard  being  had  to  the  nature  and  constitu- 
tion of  the  place  and  the  people." 

It  was  not  the  only  decision  in  favour  of  these 
colonists  during  this  reign.  On  both  sides  they  won 
long-standing  boundary  fights.  That  with  Connec- 
ticut was  settled  in  1728  upon  the  Pawcatuck  River 
line  named  in  the  Rhode  Island  charter.  In  1741, 
Massachusetts  also  had  to  yield  to  the  charter,  giv- 
ing up  five  towns.  But  the  Bay  still  denied  the 
small  colony's  claim  to  twice  as  much  territory  on 
the  north  and  east. 

In  his  Majesty's  wars  a  great  deal  of  service  was 
rendered  by  this  population  of  less  than  forty  thou- 
sand people,  one  tenth  of  them  negroes.  The 
Spanish  war  offered  to  the  mariners  familiar  with  the 
West  Indies  a  glorious  opportunity  to  serve  the  King 
and  enrich  themselves  in  plundering  the  Spaniards. 
A   small   force   of   volunteers   also   joined    Admiral 


THE  MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT         343 

Vernon's  disastrous  expedition  to  Cartagena.  The 
Assembly  informed  his  Majesty  that  they  had  built 
at  Newport  ''  a  regular  and  beautiful  fortification 
of  stone,  with  battery  subjoined,  where  might  be 
conveniently  mounted  sixty  cannon,"  requesting  a 
royal  gift  of  such  ordnance.  Against  the  French, 
they  furnished  an  armed  sloop  to  help  convoy  the 
Connecticut  troops  for  the  expedition  against  Louis- 
bourg,  besides  three  hundred  men  of  their  own  for 
the  attack,  and  part  of  the  temporary  garrison  when 
the  stronghold  was  taken.  They  also  manned  a 
French  prize,  two  privately  armed  ships  of  Newport 
chartered  by  Massachusetts,  and  a  number  of  priva- 
teers which  captured  more  than  twenty  vessels  dur- 
ing the  futile  four  years'  conflict  known  as  King 
George's  war.  These  heavy  expenses  were  pro- 
vided for,  but  scarcely  paid,  in  the  reckless  issue  of 
more  bills  of  credit.  When  the  Assembly  received 
over  ;^6,300  as  their  share  of  the  King's  reimburse- 
ment for  the  capture  of  Louisbourg,  Governor  Shir- 
ley of  Massachusetts  urged  them  in  vain  to  follow 
the  prudent  measures  which  Hutchinson  had  forced 
his  province  to  adopt.  The  consequence  of  their 
refusal  "was  that  much  of  her  considerable  trade  left 
her  for  Massachusetts,"  till  she  was  reduced  to  five 
thousand  tons  of  shipping  and  four  hundred  sailors, 
and  received  but  two  vessels  a  year  direct  from  Eng- 
land, two  from  Holland  and  Spain,  and  perhaps  a 
dozen  from  the  West  Indies.  The  export  trade  was 
valued  at  i^  10,000  sterling  a  year.  The  modest  gov- 
ernment cost  but  ^2,000  in  the  depressed  currency. 
To  the  last  of  the  French  wars,  which  soon  fol- 


344  ^^^^  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

lowed,  the  contributions  of  this  colony  for  the  seven 
years  of  exhausting  campaigns  in  the  conquest  of 
Canada  seem  wonderful  from  such  small  and  poor 
communities.  The  population  had  scarcely  in- 
creased ;  but  eight  out  of  the  forty  thousand  people 
were  men  of  military  age,  and  one  sixth  of  them 
sometimes  were  under  marching  orders,  while  fifteen 
hundred  were  at  sea  in  privateers.  The  Assembly 
went  on  issuing  paper  money  so  worthless  that 
Massachusetts  would  not  recognise  it,  and  business 
failure  was  so  common  that  a  general  insolvency  law 
was  passed.  Toward  the  end  of  the  war,  politics  ran 
high  on  the  question  of  taxation  in  the  elections  of 
Ward  and  Hopkins.  After  the  peace  of  1763, 
although  the  new  King,  George  III.,  announced  his 
determination  to  force  prompt  collection  of  his  rev- 
enues under  the  Navigation  Acts,  "  the  profitable 
but  risky  enterprise  of  privately  armed  vessels  "  was 
plied  without  the  formality  of  letters  of  marque, 
and  with  rich  returns  to  the  adventurers  of  the  im- 
poverished colony.  Mr.  Gay  says:  "  Block  Island 
was  famous  as  a  rendezvous  for  sea-rovers,  who  put 
in  there  to  recruit,  or  hovered  off  shore  to  intercept 
some  ship  worth  taking  bound  in  or  out."  When 
harsh  rebukes  were  administered  by  the  British  gov- 
ernment, Governor  Hopkins  would  not  acknowledge 
their  justice.  Bernard  of  Massachusetts  declared, 
these  practices  will  never  be  put  an  end  to  till 
Rhode  Island  is  reduced  to  the  subjection  of  the 
British  Empire,  of  which  at  present  it  is  no  more  a 
part  than  the  Bahama  Islands  when  they  were  in- 
habited by  the  buccaneers," 


THE  MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT  345 

In  the  alarm  over  the  Sugar  Act,  the  Assembly 
made  a  protest  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  giving  this 
picture  of  their  state: 

"  .  .  .  .  Not  a  much  larger  extent  of  territory 
than  about  tliirty  miles  square;  and  of  this  a  great  part 
is  barren  soil,  not  worth  the  expense  of  cultivation. 
The  number  of  souls  in  it  amount  to  forty-eight  thou- 
sand, of  which  .  .  .  Newport  and  Providence 
contain  near  one  third.  The  colony  hath  no  staple 
commodity  for  exportation,  and  does  not  raise  provisions 
sufficient  for  its  own  consumption.  .  .  .  The 
quantity  of  goods  of  every  kind  imported  from  Great 
Britain  .  .  .  annually  .  .  .  amount  at  least  to 
a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  pounds  sterling.  .  .  . 
The  only  articles  produced  in  the  colony  suitable  for  re- 
mittance to  Europe  consist  of  some  flax  and  oil,  and 
some  few  ships  built  for  sale,  the  whole  amounting  to 
about  five  thousand  pounds  sterling  per  annum."  To 
make  up  this  difference  of  ^20,000,  the  people's  only 
resource  was  exportation  to  foreign  ports.  "  Lumber, 
cheese  .  .  .  horses  .  .  .  and  fish  of  an  in- 
ferior quality"  were  sold  to  advantage  in  the  West 
Indies.  The  year  before  this  writing  "  there  were  one 
hundred  and  eighty-four  sail  of  vessels  bound  on 
.  .  voyages  ...  to  Europe,  Africa,  and  the 
West  Indies;  and  three  hundred  and  fifty-two  sail  .  .  . 
in  the  coasting  trade  .  .  .  between  Georgia  and 
Newfoundland  inckisive;  which,  with  the  fishing  ves- 
sels, were  navigated  by  at  least  twenty-two  hundred  sea- 
men. Of  these  .  .  .  vessels  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  were  annually  employed  in  the  West  India 
trade,  which  import  into  this  colony  about  fourteen 
thousand  hogsheads  of  molasses,  whereof     .     .     .     not 


346  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

exceeding  twenty-five  hundred  .  .  .  come  from  all 
the  English  islands  together."  This  chiefly  paid  for 
the  English  imports;  some  of  it,  sold  to  the  other  colon- 
ies, some  distilled  into  rum  and  carried  to  the  coast  of 
Africa,  where  it  had  driven  French  brandy  out  of  the 
market  for  "  slaves,  gold  dust,  elephants'  teeth,  cam- 
wood, etc."  Most  of  these  articles  were  taken  directly 
to  Europe,  while  the  slaves  were  sold  "  in  the  English 
islands,  in  Carolina  and  Virginia  for  bills  of  exchange  " 
on  London.  The  proposed  Sugar  Act  would  paralyse 
this  trade  in  a  colony  under  a  debt  of  nearly  ^3^70,000 
for  the  expenses  of  the  recent  war  alone,  would  close 
"  upwards  of  thirty  distil-houses,  erected  at  a  vast  ex- 
pense .  .  .  ruin  many  families,  and  our  trade  in 
general,  particularly  to  the  coast  of  Africa.  Two  thirds 
of  our  vessels  will  become  useless,  and  perish  upon  our 
hands;  our  mechanics  and  those  who  depend  upon  the 
merchant  for  employment  must  seek  for  subsistence  else- 
where; ...  a  nursery  of  seamen  .  .  .  will  be 
in  a  manner  destroyed;  and  as  an  end  will  be  put  to  our 
commerce,  the  merchants  cannot  support  any  more 
British  manufactures,  nor  will  the  people  be  able  to  pay 
for  those  they  have  already  received." 

As  this  remonstrance  availed  nothing,  the  people 
undertook  to  defend  themselves.  His  Majesty's 
cruisers  detailed  to  enforce  the  law  had  more  than 
their  match  in  the  water-bred  sons  of  the  Narragan- 
sett.  The  black  looks  which  were  their  first  salutes 
rapidly  increased  to  **  threats,  to  open  fire  from  the 
forts,  to  riots,  and  burning  the  boats  of  the  men-of- 
war,"  till  more  than  one  royal  officer  fled  for  his 
life,  and  Parliament  made  it  a  capital  offence  to  de- 


THE   MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT  347 

stroy  SO  much  as  a  boat's  oar.  Governor  Hopkins, 
by  order  of  the  Assembly,  refused  to  give  the  oath 
of  office  to  his  Majesty's  Comptroller  of  the  Rev- 
enues at  Newport.  At  Providence  a  vessel  seized 
for  smuggling  was  rescued  and  taken  to  sea  by  "  a 
parcel  of  people  with  blackened  faces."  Hopkins 
was  reported  to  have  said  that  "  the  Parliament  of 
Great  Britain  had  no  more  right  to  make  laws  for 
them  than  they  had  for  the  Mohawks."  Palfrey, 
suggesting  that  this  was  a  distortion  of  some  state- 
ment by  Hopkins,  pays  him  and  his  colony  an 
unwonted  compliment  in  saying  that  at  this  time  he 
*'  emerged  from  a  cloud  of  local  cabals,  which  for 
years  had  obscured  his  merit,  to  take  thenceforward 
a  salutary  lead  of  the  public  opinion  and  action  of 
his  colony. ' '  In  his  Rights  of  the  Colonies  Exaviineei 
he  expressed  in  most  temperate  and  logical  manner 
the  sentiments  which  were  held  by  the  Newport 
mob  when  they  rescued  a  deserter  from  a  revenue 
ship  in  the  harbour,  and  by  the  Assembly  which  re- 
newed petitions  to  the  home  government,  while  they 
responded  to  Massachusetts'  call  for  committees  of 
correspondence  and  delegates  to  the  Stamp  Act 
Congress  in  New  York. 

Bancroft  says  that  Hopkins  "  stood  alone  among 
the  governors  in  his  refusal  to  take  the  oath  to  sup- 
port the  Stamp  Act."  The  Assembly  "  unani- 
mously directed  all  officers  of  the  colony  to  proceed 
in  their  duties  as  usual  without  regard  to  it,  en- 
gaging to  **  indemnify  them  and  save  them  harm- 
less. "  A  "  convention  of  the  County  of  Providence 
went  so  far  as  to  resolve  to  oppose  the  Act  even  if 


348  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

it  should  tend  to  the  destruction  of  the  relations 
between  America  and  Great  Britain,  adopting  as  a 
watch-word  "  A  Firm  Union  of  all  the  Colonies." 
The  stamp  distributor,  Augustus  Johnson,  who  was 
the  Attorney-General,  lost  no  time  in  declaring  that 
he  would  not  "  execute  his  office  against  the  will  of 
our  sovereign  lord,  the  people";  but  his  effigy, 
with  those  of  two  others  of  suspicious  patriotism, 
was  dragged  about  Newport  on  a  hurdle,  hanged, 
and  burned.  Their  houses  were  plundered,  and 
they,  together  with  the  revenue  officers  fled  to  the 
shelter  of  an  English  man-of-war  in  the  harbour. 

In  these  troubled  times  a  college  to  educate  young 
men  for  the  Baptist  ministry  was  founded  at  War- 
ren, though  afterwards  removed  to  Providence,  and 
seven  students  were  graduated  at  the  first  commence- 
ment in  1769. 

After  the  Stamp  Act  was  repealed,  the  resisting 
colonists  were  no  better  satisfied  with  the  remaining 
acts  taxing  their  commerce.  Their  Chief  Justice 
gave  the  opinion  "  that  any  person  who  should 
come  into  the  colony  and  exercise  any  authority  by 
force  of  arms,  without  showing  his  com.mission  to 
the  Governor,  and,  if  a  custom-house  officer,  without 
being  sworn  into  his  office,  was  guilty  of  a  trespass 
if  not  piracy."  The  bay  was  patrolled  by  the  royal 
cruiser  the  Gaspce,  under  the  command  of  Lieuten- 
ant Dudingston,  who,  says  Bancroft,  "  insulted  the 
inhabitants,  plundered  the  islands  of  sheep  and 
hogs,  cut  down  trees,  fired  at  market  boats,  detained 
vessels  without  a  colourable  pretext,  and  made  ille- 
gal seizures  of  goods  of  which  the  recovery  cost  more 


IW 


*  !    M;^ 


^^M^ 


THE  MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT  351 

than  they  were  worth."  On  complaint  by  Provi- 
dence, Governor  Hopkins  sent  a  sheriff  on  board 
to  ask  under  what  authority  the  vessel  was  acting, 
and  was  referred  to  the  Admiralty  Judge,  who 
answered  from  Boston,  ''  As  sure  as  the  people  of 
Newport  attempt  to  rescue  any  vessel  ...  I 
will  hang  them  as  pirates."  Soon  afterward,  in 
the  summer  of  1772,  the  Providence  packet,  pass- 
ing the  Gaspce  without  dipping  her  flag  as  Dud- 
ingston  had  demanded,  and  immediately  being 
chased,  ran  inshore,  but  she  soon  sped  on  to  Provi- 
dence with  the  news  that  the  enemy  was  aground 
off  Namquit.  The  tide  fell,  and  night  came  on 
while  the  leading  men  of  the  town,  well  armed,  in 
some  half  a  dozen  boats,  rowed  down  and  boarded 
the  stranded  cutter,  sent  her  company  with  their 
personal  property  ashore,  wounding  Dudingston 
in  the  scuffle,  and  then  turned  the  Gaspe'e  into  a 
roaring  bonfire. 

This  raised  a  storm  in  England.  Lord  Sandwich, 
at  the  head  of  the  British  Admiralty,  declared  that 
he  would  pursue  the  colony  until  its  charter  was  de- 
stroyed. A  large  reward  was  offered  for  the  perpe- 
trators of  the  deed,  and  a  board  of  inquiry  appointed  ; 
but  not  one  was  ever  disturbed,  though  the  whole 
affair  was  an  open  secret. 

The  majority  were  determined  upon  resistance  at 
every  point.  While  almost  any  batch  of  citizens 
could  be  depended  upon  for  such  spirited  acts  as 
this,  the  colony  which  had  never  won  a  laurel  for 
self-government  now  undertook  systematic  meas- 
ures, stripping  Fort  George  in  Newport  Harbour  of 


352  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

materials  that  his  Majesty's  officers  might  wish  to 
seize,  distributing  them  and  other  arms  and  ammu- 
nition in  different  hiding  places,  enrolling  volunteers, 
and  otherwise  reforming  the  militia.  After  the 
battles  of  Lexington  and  Concord,  the  Quaker, 
Nathanael  Greene,  led  three  excellently  equipped 
regiments  to  the  American  army  which  besieged 
the  British  in  Boston.  The  Assembly  sent  dele- 
gates to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  while  that 
body  was  discussing  the  pros  and  cons  of  recon- 
ciliation, declared  that  as  George  III.,  regardless 
of  the  compact  between  him  and  his  colonial  sub- 
jects, had  undertaken  to  compel  them  "  to  submit 
to  the  most  debasing  and  detestable  tyranny," 
it  "  becomes  our  highest  duty  to  use  every  means 
w^hich  God  and  nature  have  furnished  us,  in  sup- 
port of  our  invaluable  rights  and  privileges,  to 
oppose  that  power  which  is  exercised  only  for  our 
destruction." 

They  voted  a  repeal  of  their  ''  Act  for  the  more 
effectually  securing  to  his  Majesty  the  allegiance  of 
his  subjects  in  this  colony  "  ;  that  *'  the  name  and 
authority  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  this  col- 
ony "  should  be  substituted   for  those  of  the  King 

in  all  commissions  for  officers,  in  writs  and  in  all 
processes  of  law";  and  that  "  no  instrument  in 
writing,  public  or  private,  shall  in  the  date  thereof, 
mention  the  year  of  the  said  King's  reign." 

At  the  end  of  the  session,  instead  of  the  formula 

God  save  the  King,"  the  clerk  wrote  '*  God  save 
the  United  Colonics."  In  this  wise,  in  May,  1776, 
the  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  before 


THE   MOST  LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT 


JDO 


any  other  colony,  declared  their  absolute  independ- 
ence of  the  British  Crown.  The  royal  charter  was 
the  constitution  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  for 
over  half  a  century. 


mm 


fc^iivrt^'V^ 


CHAPTER  XIII 

NORTH  CAROLINA,  ELEVENTH  COLONY — THE  MOST 
INDEPENDENT  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  COLONIES 

THE  bay  which  contained  the  famous  Roanoke 
Island,  where  Englishmen,  in  1584,  made  their 
first  ill-fated  effort  to  colonise  the  New  World,  was 
not  settled  until  nearly  half  a  century  afterward, 
and  then  by  obscure  Virginians,  who  neither  knew 
nor  cared  that  they  were  making  the  beginning  of 
the  eleventh  colony  among  the  Thirteen.  A  stretch 
of  country,  possessing  as  many  of  nature's  gifts  as 
any  place  on  the  seaboard,  rebuffed  all  visitors  from 
the  sea  by  an  outwork  of  nearly  two  hundred  miles 
of  rarely  broken  sand-bars,  enclosing  vast  arms  of 
the  ocean,  wide  but  exceedingly  shallow;  while  like 
an  inner  defence  upon  the  coast  of  the  mainland  lay 
long  reaches  of  pine  barrens  and  deep  and  deadly 
swamps. 

But  there  were  fertile  parts,  and  one  of  them  on 
the  upper  bay  was  at  length  occupied  by  a  flank 
movement,  overland  or  by  river  from  Virginia. 
That  was  nearly  ten  years  before  Charles  II.  erected 
the    region    between    Virginia    and    the   Spaniards' 

354 


NORTH   CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH   COLONY     355 

Florida  into  the  palatinate  of  Carolina,  and  almost 
fifty  years  before  the  name  of  North  Carolina  was 
heard.  About  the  year  1653  the  green  shores  and 
landlocked,  sand-barred  bays  of  what  was  after- 
wards called  Albemarle  Sound  were  first  settled  as 
part  of  Virginia.  The  faint  glimmerings  of  light 
upon  these  obscure  beginnings  are  barely  sufficient 
to  pique  the  student's  curiosity.  Almost  the  only 
memorable  thing  concerning  them  was  that  they 
were,  perhaps,  the  only  saplings  of  a  new  plantation 
that  sprang  up  during  the  Commonwealth.  At  that 
time,  when  Virginia  was  nearer  to  an  enlightened 
democracy  than  at  any  other  period  in  colonial 
history,  it  was  common  for  restless  traders  and 
members  of  the  ill-supported  and  ill-disciplined 
clergy  to  go  off  and  make  isolated  plantations,  say- 
ing perhaps  that  they  wished  to  avoid  the  Puritan 
element  which  the  Commonwealth  fostered  in  the 
ancient  dominion — a  reason  admitting  of  more  than 
one  construction.  Good  men  did  the  same  thing. 
No  one  knows  to  which  class  belonged  Roger  Greene, 
a  clergyman  of  the  Puritan  district  of  Nansemond, 
who,  in  1653,  obtained  from  the  Virginia  Assembly 
the  grant  of  a  thousand  acres  about  the  mouth  of 
the  Chowan  River,  or  Passamagnus,  and  began  his 
plantation  with  a  hundred  men.  As  distance  went 
in  those  days,  the  journey  was  a  comparatively  short 
and  easy  one,  and  was  probably  made  down  the 
Chowan  River,  which  is  now  one  of  the  boundaries 
of  Nansemond.  These  people  apparently  left  no 
records  of  their  own,  and  the  Virginia  chronicles 
seldom  did  more  than  give  them  a  passing  refer- 


356  TIIK   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

ence.  The  Assembly,  anxious  to  fix  their  claim 
upon  the  region,  after  about  eight  years  gave  another 
grant  to  George  Duren  or  Durant,  commonly  sup- 
posed to  have  been  a  Quaker.  He  "  did  for  the 
space  of  two  years  bestow  much  labour  and  cost  in 
finding  out  the  said  country,"  making  a  settlement 
and  giving  his  name  to  Durant's  Neck.  Among 
other  shadowy  figures  of  this  period  was  one  named 
Edward  Catchmaid  or  Cathmaid,  who  is  said  to 
have  been  entrusted  by  Durant  with  power  to  do 
business  in  the  Virginia  Assembly  concerning  grants, 
but  who  treacherously  took  out  patents  in  his  own 
name  and  led  forth  a  colony  of  some  sixty  persons, 
with  negro  slaves. 

They  were  too  far  from  the  ''  cities  "  of  the  Old 
Dominion  to  know  or  to  care  what  was  going 
on  in  England ;  but  they  learned  after  a  time  that 
the  Commonwealth  had  fallen,  that  royalty  had 
been  restored,  and  —  what  came  nearer  home — that 
his  new  Majesty,  Charles  II.,  had  set  up  the  great 
province  of  Carolina,  between  the  thirty-sixth 
parallel  and  the  River  St.  John.  It  overlapped 
Virginia  on  the  north  and  encroached  on  the  Span- 
iards' Florida  on  the  south.  This  vast  province  was 
made  a  palatinate  and  presented  to  eight  pro- 
prietors, whose  names  seem  to  belong  more  properly 
to  South  Carolina,  though  they  made  little  enough 
impression  there.  One  of  them  was  Sir  William 
Berkeley,  who  had  been  restored  to  his  former  place 
as  royal  Governor  of  Virginia.  With  a  lordly  dis- 
regard for  the  detail  that  the  Chowan  country  was 
north  of  the  thirty-sixth  parallel,  Berkeley  was  asked 


NORTH   CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH   COLONY     35; 

by  his  fellow-proprietors  to  send  the  settlers  there  a 
palatine  governor  and  council,  empowered  to  call  a 
representative  government.  He  sent  the  freedom- 
loving  Scot,  William  Drummond,  "  a  man  of  prud- 
ence and  popularity,"  who  stayed  with  the  settlers 
for  four  years,  and  then  returned  to  Virginia,  where 
he  helped  to  raise  Bacon's  Rebellion  and  was  hanged 
for  it.      Berkeley  was  asked  to  get  more  colonists 

cheaply  if  possible,  but  get  them  at  any  rate." 
The  plantation  was  soon  enlarged  by  several  com- 
panies. Some  were  from  Virginia,  some  from  New 
England;  and  a  good-sized  party  of  ship-builders 
from  Bermuda  set  up  their  cabins  and  their  ways  on 
the  Pasquotank  River  some  distance  east  of  the 
Chowan,  along  the  north  shore  of  the  sound. 

Drummond,  with  six  councillors  and  the  freemen 
of  the  plantation,  met  before  the  end  of  1663  in  the 
first  "  Parliament"  of  what  the  proprietors  called 
Albemarle  County  of  Carolina.  They  framed  a  few 
laws,  chiefly  to  insure  liberty  of  conscience  and  an 
easy  tenure  of  land,  and  changed  the  name  of  the 
Chowan  River  to  Albemarle  in  honour  of  the  senior 
proprietor,  George  Monk,  who  had  been  made  Duke 
of  Albemarle  for  his  services  in  bringing  about  the 
restoration  of  Charles  II.  Afterwards  this  name 
was  extended  to  the  sound.  The  planters  decreed 
that  no  "  transient  persons"  should  be  allow^ed  to 
share  the  Indian  trade  with  the  Tuscaroras  or  other 
neighbouring  tribes.  Every  inducement  was  held 
out  for  newcomers,  from  non-taxation  for  the  first 
year  of  settlement  to  promises  of  protection  for  five 
years    against    debts    and   suits   "  on  any    cause    of 


358  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

action  outside  of  the  boundary."  Title  to  land 
was  assured  in  this  "  sanctuary  of  runaways  "  after 
two  years  of  "respectable  residence"!  Roger 
Greene  had  either  died,  removed,  or  given  up  his 
clerical  character,  for  there  were  said  to  be  no 
clergymen  in  the  colony.  Matrimonial  respectabil- 
ity was  secured  by  the  simple  avowal  of  the  con- 
tracting parties  before  the  Governor  and  Council 
and  a  few  acquaintances.  The  Virginians  called 
the  settlement  "  Rogues'  Harbour,"  and  for  many 
generations  it  was  the  refuge  of  nearly  all  the 
"  mean  whites  "  who  could  escape  from  the  older 
colony  and  from  its  stigma  on  labour,  poverty,  and 
low  birth.  This  little  democracy  voted  that  their 
laws  should  stand,  if  approved  by  the  lord  pro- 
prietors, until  their  worships  could  prepare  a  com- 
plete form  of  government,  the  planters  little  knowing 
that  the  proprietors  promised  themselves  and  the 
restored  king,  that  their  province  should  be  "  agree- 
able to  monarchy,"  and  "  avoid  the  erecting  of  a 
numerous  democracy." 

His  Majesty,  by  a  new  charter  in  1665,  added 
half  a  degree  to  Carolina  on  the  northern  boundary, 
so  as  to  include  the  Albemarle  settlements.  After 
two  years,  in  which  the  colonists  enjoyed  the  privi- 
lege of  governing  themselves,  the  proprietors  sent 
out  Samuel  Stephens  with  authority  to  choose  his 
own  council  and  to  call  for  twelve  deputies,  to  be 
chosen  by  a  vote  of  all  the  free  men  until  the 
country  should  have  colonists  enough  to  send  two 
deputies  from  each  "  denizen,  tribe,  or  parish." 
These  deputies,    calling   themselves  a  parliament, 


NORril  CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH  COLONY     359 

framed,  in  1669,  a  simple  constitution  and  laws,  which 
are  the  beginning  of  North  Carolina's  authentic 
legislative  records.  Under  them  the  colonists  were 
governed  for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  in  de- 
fiance of  the  proprietors'  many  efforts  to  induce 
them  to  accept  the  "  Fundamental  Constitutions" 
and  "  Grand  Model"  of  government  prepared  by 
the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  and  the  philosopher,  John 
Locke.  This  celebrated  scheme,  with  its  Carolinian 
nobility,  which  made  the  fame  of  Locke,  was  never 
accepted  by  the  scattering  population  of  fishermen, 
ship-builders,  tobacco-raisers,  and  traders  barely 
making  their  living  on  the  Albemarle;  r.nd  less  at- 
tempt was  made  to  force  it  on  them  than  on  the 
settlers  who  at  about  this  time  began  what  after- 
wards was  South  Carolina. 

The  northern  and  southern  plantations  in  the 
province  had  nothing  to  do  with  each  other.  The 
proprietors  wished  to  establish  intercourse  and  a 
common  government,  but  the  Albemarle  "  seaters  " 
had  a  monopoly  in  the  fur  trade  with  the  Indians  in 
the  peninsula  of  Pamlico  Sound,  and  preferred  that 
the  Charles  Town  planters  should  attend  to  their 
own  affairs.  Moreover,  all  the  conditions  of  these 
northerly  settlers  conspired  to  hedge  them  in.  Not 
only  were  many  of  them  fugitives  from  the  justice  of 
other  colonies,  but  they  were  isolated  from  the  sea 
by  long  stretches  of  shallow  water  which  had  few 
inlets,  while  on  nearly  all  the  landward  sides  they 
were  surrounded  by  deadly  swamps  and  dense 
forests.  George  Fox,  the  Friend,  when  on  his  mis- 
sionary  tour  through   the   colonies,    found   that   it 


360  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

took  much  courage  to  traverse  "  the  great  bogs  " 
of  the  Dismal  Swamp.  Often  he  was  obhged  to  lie 
"  abroad  a-nights  in  the  woods  by  a  fire  "  until  he 
came  to  the  first  frontier  cabin,  whose  master  gave 
him  the  best  hospitality  he  could  offer,  a  mat  by  the 
hearth.  Fox  said  the  people  lived  "  lonely  in  the 
woods  "  with  only  watch-dogs  to  guard  their  solitary 
houses.  Every  plantation  was  on  the  sound  and  the 
adjacent  inlets;  the  waters  were  the  highways,  boats 
and  light  skiffs  the  only  means  of  carriage.  Some- 
times the  way  from  one  plantation  to  another  was 
blazed  through  the  forests.  Fox  found  the  people 
"  generally  tender  and  open."  He  had  '*  much 
ado  "  to  reach  the  house  "  of  the  Chief  Secretary 
of  the  province,"  who  "  had  been  formerly  con- 
vinced "  ;  his  boat  grounded  in  the  shallow  channel 
approaching  the  plantation,  but  the  Secretary's 
wife  seeing  the  mishap,  put  out  in  a  canoe  and 
brought  him  safely  to  her  hospitable  door.  Gover- 
nor Stephens  and  his  wife  received  Fox  "  lovingly," 
making  him  remain  as  long  as  they  could. 

After  Stephens's  death,  the  parliament  elected  to 
his  place  their  speaker,  George  Cartwright,  or  Car- 
teret, as  some  call  him,  making  it  seem  possible 
that  he  was  the  troublesome  son  of  one  of  the  pro- 
prietors of  Carolina  and  of  New  Jersey, — and  that 
the  young  scapegrace  had  come  hither  after  the 
pleasures  he  had  taken  in  Elizabeth  Town  at  the 
expense  of  his  cousin  Philip,  the  Governor.  Who- 
ever he  was,  he  served  at  most  two  years  and  then 
resigned,  leaving  the  government  in  "  ill-order  and 
worse  hands."      So  said  the  Cavaliers  of  Virginia, 


NORTH  CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH  COLONY     36 1 

who  had  small  liking  for  the  dare-devil,  self-reliant 
community  that  had  sprung  from  the  loins  of  their 
commonwealth.  Some  said  that  it  was  aiding 
Drummond  in  Bacon's  Rebellion,  and  historians 
declare  that  it  was  not  by  accidental  choice  that  the 
insurgents  chose''  Carolina"  for  their  watchword. 
After  Bacon's  death,  old  Governor  Berkeley  said  in 
his  wrath,  the  "  runaways,  rogues,  and  rebels  fled 
daily  to  Carolina  as  their  common  subterfuge  and 
lurking-place,"  depriving  the  Governor  of  many 
hangings,  for*the  parliament  refused  to  give  them 
up  on  any  account.  From  a  twentieth-century 
American's  point  of  view,  these  despised  settlers 
showed  a  remarkable  ability  to  manage  their  own 
affairs  in  a  tumult  that  was  raised,  some  say,  by  an 
attempt  to  enforce  the  proprietors'  government,  but 
which  Mr.  Fiske  believes  to  have  sprung  from  re- 
sentment over  the  Navigation  Acts.  An  appeal 
was  sent  to  the  proprietors  by  Thomas  Miller,  and 
one  Eastchurch,  speaker  of  the  representatives. 
The  proprietors  "  discoursed  with  them  "  and 
wrote  to  the  parliament,  "  They  have  fully  satisfied 
us  that  the  fault  was  not  in  you,  but  in  those  per- 
sons into  whose  hand  we  committed  the  govern- 
ment." To  quiet  a  fear  that  the  hated  Berkeley  of 
Virginia  was  to  become  sole  proprietary  of  this 
region,  the  proprietors  promised  "  not  to  part  with 
the  County  of  Albemarle  to  any  person,  but  to 
maintain  the  Province  of  Carolina  entire  as  it  was, 
that  they  may  preserve  their  independence  in  Eng- 
lish rights  and  liberties."  The  settlers'  own  gov- 
ernment was  allowed  in  place  of  the  Grand  Model; 


362  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Eastchurch  was  made  Governor,  the  proprietors 
finding  him  a  "  very  discreet  and  worthy  man,  and 
much  concerned  for  your  prosperity  and  welfare 
.  .  .  well  instructed  in  our  desires."  Miller  was 
made  Secretary  of  the  colony.  So  far  all  was  well. 
But  Charles  II.  was  enforcing  his  Navigation  Acts; 
even  the  poverty-stricken,  isolated  planters  of  Al- 
bemarle must  yield  their  customs  duties  on  any  of 
the  "  enumerated  articles  "  if  they  shipped  them 
from  their  own  colony  to  another,  and  Miller  was 
appointed  his  Majesty's  collector. 

The  colony,  then  near  to  rounding  its  first  quarter 
of  a  century,  was  the  smallest,  poorest,  and  least 
commercial  of  any  plantation  on  the  coast.  It  num- 
bered less  than  three  thousand  souls;  more  than  one 
third  of  them  were  women,  children,  negroes,  and 
Indians  living  with  the  settlers.  Judged  by  the 
standard  of  prosperity  in  other  places,  probably  not 
even  their  largest  landholder,  the  "  old  seater," 
George  Durant,  could  be  regarded  as  a  rich  man. 
The  whole  of  the  *'  taxables  " — persons  between 
sixteen  and  sixty  years  of  age — raised  but  some 
eight  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  a  year. 
They  grew  maize  for  their  own  hoe-cake,  but  none 
to  sell,  except,  perhaps,  a  little  for  the  Indians  when 
they  were  in  need.  They  made  some  tallow  and 
resin,  and  had  a  small  trade  in  hides,  deer-skins, 
and  peltries.  They  had  a  few  cattle  and  swine 
which  fed  themselves  in  the  woods,  besides  the 
abundant  game  of  the  forests  and  the  fish  of  their 
inland  seas;  but  they  had  little  else  of  their  own 
production,  and  depended  on  the  few  vessels  from 


NORTH  CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH  COLONY     363 

Boston  and  Salem,  whose  masters  were  willing  to 
make  the  roundabout  entrance  to  the  sound  and 
call  at  one  plantation  after  another  along  the  shore 
to  barter  all  manner  of  foreign  articles  for  cattle  and 
lumber,  which  they  exchanged  in  the  West  Indies 
for  sugar,  molasses,  and  rum.  All  of  these  "  West 
India  goods"  were  desired  by  the  planters  even 
more  than  the  foreign  articles,  and  if  the  ship-master 
called  again  on  his  way  home  the  people  would  take 
his  cargo  and  make  a  good  bargain  with  him,  smug- 
gling their  payment  in  tobacco  aboard  to  escape  a 
tax  of  one  penny  on  every  pound.  These  products, 
at  prices  fixed  by  the  parliament,  were  the  colonists' 
currency,  even  for  their  quit-rents  to  the  proprietors, 
who  assigned  a  certain  amount  to  the  officers  for 
salaries.  Later,  their  worships  ordered  the  use  of 
coin,  which  was  a  sore  grievance  and  an  absurdity, 
since  it  was  not  sent  out,  and  the  people  had  no  way 
of  getting  it  for  themselves,  except  a  few  handfuls 
now  and  then  from  some  New  England  skipper. 

Miller,  on  his  return,  held  not  only  his  former 
offices,  but  also  that  of  Acting-Governor  for  East- 
church,  who  stayed  two  years  in  courtship  in  the 
island  of  Nevis.  The  people  now  saw  the  spokes- 
man of  their  liberties  in  a  new  light.  When  he 
collected  three  thousand  pounds  of  customs  in  their 
community  of  barely  fifteen  hundred  "  taxables  " 
they  were  ready  for  a  fight.  It  came  when  Miller 
conceived  it  his  duty,  for  the  suppression  of  trade 
with  Massachusetts,  to  arrest  a  Yankee  skipper, 
Captain  Gillam,  who  had  brought  a  heavily  armed 
schooner  into  the  Pasquotank  River,  with  a  large 


364  THE   rillRTEEX   COLONIES 

and  most  welcome  cargo  of  rum  and  molasses.  The 
settlers  rebelled,  finding  a  leader  arrive  opportunely 
in  the  person  of  John  Culpeper,  who  had  been 
trusted  by  the  proprietors  as  Surveyor-General  of 
Carolina,  but  who  had  "  graduated  in  sedition  "  at 
the  southern  settlement,  and  escaped  hanging  there 
for  "  having  set  the  poor  people  to  plunder  the 
rich,"  and  shown  himself  one  of  "  those  very  ill  men, 
lovers  of  popular  liberties."  Electing  him  as  their 
Governor,  the  settlers  threw  Miller  and  his  Council 
into  jail,  "  that  thereby  the  country  may  have  a 
free  parliament  and  may  send  home  their  griev- 
ances." They  called  their  parliament,  appointed 
new  justices,  took  possession  of  the  public  records 
and  of  the  three  thousand  pounds  of  customs,  run- 
ning things  their  own  way  for  several  years.  When 
Governor  Eastchurch  arrived  with  his  Creole  bride, 
he  could  do  nothing  but  turn  to  Virginia,  wdiere 
Governor  Chicheley  promised  him  recruits  to  put 
down  the  insurrection  ;  but  the  unhappy  bridegroom 
did  not  live  to  lead  them.  Then  Culpeper  was 
sent  to  England  "  to  negotiate  a  compromise  "  with 
the  proprietors.  To  his  surprise  he  there  met  Mil- 
ler, whom  he  had  left  in  jail.  Both  told  their  tales. 
The  people's  grievance  w^as  that  for  eighteen  months 
Miller  had  hindered  a  free  election,  so  that  no  com- 
plaints should  reach  the  proprietors.  The  testimony 
of  friend  and  foe  made  him  out  drunken  and  violent, 
if  not  dishonest.  But  posing  as  the  abused  champion 
of  the  Navigation  Acts  he  w^on  the  English  mer- 
chants to  his  side,  and  secured  Culpeper's  arrest  for 
dishonesty,  interfering  with  the  customs,  and  high 


NORril   CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH   COLONY     365 

treason.  But  Miller  reckoned  without  Shaftesbury, 
who  was  then  at  the  height  of  his  power  as  Lord 
Chancellor  of  the  realm.  The  championship  of  the 
colonists'  rights  by  the  leading  proprietor  or  pala- 
tine of  their  association,  and  the  sponsor  of  Locke's 
"Grand  Model  of  Governments,"  ensured  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  English  people.  The  upshot  of  it  all 
was  that  the  cause  of  the  settlers  triumphed,  and 
Culpeper,  acquitted  on  every  count,  was  sent  back 
to  follow  his  profession  as  surveyor  in  the  southern 
plantation. 

Meanwhile,  and  for  two  years  longer,  the  colon- 
ists managed  their  own  affairs,  under  Judge  George 
Durant,  a  leader  against  Miller,  and  always,  appar- 
ently, their  foremost  ofificer  and  richest  planter.  The 
proprietors'  Governor  was  a  new  associate — a  mere 
fortune-hunter,  Seth  Sothel ;  but  he,  on  his  way 
out,  was  captured  and  held  prisoner  for  two  years 
by  Algerine  pirates.  It  was  not  until  1683  that  he 
began  his  five  years'  government  of  brutal  knavery. 
Without  respect  for  the  living,  the  dying,  or  the 
dead,  he  took  whatever  he  wanted;  and  when  at 
length  the  people  faced  him  with  their  determina- 
tion to  send  him  to  England,  he  cried  like  a  baby, 
begging  rather  to  be  tried  by  their  parliament  on 
any  charge  that  they  saw  fit  to  make  against  him. 
They  agreed,  brought  in  an  indictment  of  thirteen 
specifications,  found  him  guilty  of  all,  and  declared 
him  incapable  of  ever  holding  office  again  amongst 
them,  with  sentence  of  twelve  months'  exile,  which 
he  spent  in  bleeding  the  southern  colony. 

After  the  proprietors  heard  of  his  performances 


366  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

they  appointed  as  Governor-General  over  both 
colonies  the  "  upright  and  able  "  Philip  Ludwell,  a 
well-known  royalist  of  Virginia.  After  a  few  years 
in  Albemarle  he  went  to  the  new  capital  of  Charles 
Town  in  the  southern  settlement  to  set  up  his  gen- 
eral government ;  but  these  northerly  planters  never 
sent  their  representatives.  Every  change  seemed 
destined  to  strengthen  them  in  their  desire  and 
ability  to  govern  themselves.  The  proprietors' 
next  step  was  to  give  up  even  a  nominal  enforce- 
ment of  the  Grand  Model,  which  practically  made 
no  change  except  to  remove  the  great  bone  of  con- 
tention and  incline  the  people  more  agreeably 
toward  their  landlords.  The  *'  abrogation  "  was 
made  with  great  ceremony  in  England,  and  the 
announcement,  "  as  the  people  have  declared  that 
they  would  rather  be  governed  by  the  powers 
granted  by  the  charter,  without  regard  to  the 
Fundamental  Constitutions,  it  would  be  for  their 
quiet  and  the  protection  of  the  well  disposed  to 
grant  their  request."  The  two  distant  groups  of 
settlements,  which  the  proprietors  had  distinguished 
as  "Our  Colony  north-east  of  Cape  Fear"  and 
"  Our  Colony  south-west  of  Cape  Fear,"  were  now 
called  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina. 

Up  to  the  close  of  the  century  the  deputies  ap- 
pointed by  Ludwell  and  other  general  governors, 
came  and  went,  scarcely  one  leaving  more  than  the 
impress  of  his  name  on  the  records.  A  notable  ex- 
ception is  Henderson  Walker,  w^hose  term  stands 
out  not  only  for  its  prosperity  and  the  rare  circum- 
stance that  the  people  "  enjoyed  tranquillity,"  as 


NORTH  CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH  COLONY     367 

his  tombstone  testifies,  but  for  the  addition  of  a 
second  county,  Bath,  made  up  by  a  number  of  new 
settlements  on  Pamlico  Sound. 

During  this  half  century  the  people  had  followed 
their  own  widely  different  religious  or  irreligious 
views  without  interference,  until,  about  the  time  of 
Governor  Walker's  death  in  1704,  a  clergyman  was 
sent  to  call  upon  them  to  conform  to  the  Church  of 
England.  This  was  when  the  bigoted  Governor- 
General,  Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson,  sent  over  his  deputy. 
Colonel  Robert  Daniel.  "  Down  with  Dissent!" 
cried  Daniel.  "Down  with  Daniel!"  cried  the 
planters  and  some  of  them,  who  were  Quakers,  in- 
duced Johnson  to  replace  Daniel  by  one  Thomas 
Carey,  who  was  the  man  they  wanted,  or  so  they 
thought,  until  he  tried  to  force  Quakers  to  take  the 
Test  Oath.  Then  one  of  them  was  sent  to  the  pro- 
prietors, whom  he  and  their  gifted  Quaker  associate, 
Joseph  Archdale,  moved  to  suspend  Johnson's 
authority  over  North  Carolina,  to  remove  Carey,  to 
agree  that  the  Queen's  Test  Oath  did  not  apply 
to  the  colonies,  and  to  secure  the  planters  in  re- 
ligious freedom,  although  the  Church  of  England 
was  established.  By  the  people's  choice  William 
Glover  was  next  in  charge ;  but  when  he  insisted  on 
the  oath,  the  Quakers,  led  by  one  Porter,  dickered 
with  Carey,  who  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
would  rather  give  up  the  oath  than  the  governor- 
ship. The  situation  became  decidedly  animated — 
with  two  Governors,  two  parliaments,  writs  flying 
about  like  waste  paper  in  a  high  wind,  and  some 
staid  colonists  who  did  not  like  this  sort  of  thing 


368  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

removing  to  Virginia  "for  safety."  In  17 10,  another 
combatant  appeared,  a  long-delayed  Governor  from 
the  proprietors,  an  Edward  Hyde,  unlike  the 
one  known  as  Lord  Cornbury  who  afflicted  New 
York  and  New  Jersey  about  this  time.  As  a  relat- 
ive of  Queen  Anne's  grandfather,  the  Earl  of 
Clarendon,  he  was  supposed  to  be  one  to  inspire 
awe  and  "  compose  differences  "  ;  but  although  he 
found  a  goodly  portion  of  the  people  v/ith  him  and 
secured  a  parliament,  many  of  the  free-lances  were 
unimpressed,  and  upheld  Carey  in  resistance  to 
Hyde's  demands  for  an  account  of  all  the  public 
moneys  he  had  used.  They  were  not  too  Quaker- 
ish to  have  a  few  armed  vessels,  and  it  was  soon 
made  clear  that  the  differences  could  scarcely  be 
composed  without  military  aid.  Governor  Spots- 
wood  of  Virginia  responded,  like  the  good  neigh- 
bour that  he  was.  The  force  bombarded  Carey's 
house,  which  had  long  been  his  castle,  till  he  and 
his  henchmen  fled,  first  to  the  woods  among  the 
Tuscaroras  at  the  head  of  Pamlico  peninsula,  and 
then  to  Virginia,  where  he  was  arrested  in  the  midst 
of  his  bragging  of  how  he  would  make  his  enemies 
suffer  at  the  hands  of  the  proprietors.  Spotswood 
sent  him  to  their  worships  on  a  charge  of  treason, 
and  he  was  thankful  that  lack  of  evidence  enabled 
him  to  slip  through  their  hands  without  trial,  and 
find  oblivion  in  the  West  Indies. 

Happier  pictures  were  made  on  Pamlico  Sound 
by  the  French  Huguenots  who  settled  Bath,  some 
distance  up  the  broad  mouth  of  the  River  Taw; 
and  by  the  Swiss  and  the  German  Palatines,  led  by 


NORTH   CAROLINA,    ELEVENTH   COLONY     369 

Baron  de  Graffenried,  who,  farther  south,  planted 
New  Berne  on  the  Neuse  at  the  mouth  of  the  Trent. 
This  great  peninsula,  cut  by  the  Taw  and  the 
Neuse,  and  many  miles  back  of  it,  was  the  hunting 
ground  of  what  Mr.  Fiske  calls  a  powerful  wedge  of 
alien  Indian  stock  among  the  native  Sioux  and  Al- 
gonquins,  "  the  Tuscaroras,  a  large  tribe  of  the 
dreaded  Iroquois  family,  able  to  send  forth  at  least 
twelve  hundred  warriors."  In  the  country  some- 
what up  from  the  coast,  Graffenried  was  supported 
by  the  brilliant  Scot,  John  Lawson,  w^ho  by  this 
time  had  had  about  twelve  years'  experience  as  sur- 
veyor, and  who  said  that  here  he  had  discovered  the 
garden  of  the  colonies.  In  his  delightful  History 
of  Carolina  he  calls  this 

"  a  delicious  country,  being  placed  in  that  girdle  of  the 
world  which  affords  wine,  oil,  fruit,  grain,  and  silk,  with 
other  rich  commodities,  besides  a  sweet  air,  moderate 
climate,  and  fertile  soil  "  fit  "  to  spin  out  the  thread  of 
life  to  its  utmost  extent,"  and  "  render  the  possessors  the 
happiest  race  of  men  upon  earth." 

But  the  Tuscaroras  also  loved  the  land.  Up  to 
this  time,  while  the  southern  colony  had  had  much 
trouble  with  their  natives,  the  northerly  planters 
had  had  nothing  more  than  a  few  petty  disputes. 
The  Tuscaroras  had  always  been  friendly,  until 
settlers  began  to  enter  their  land,  or  possibly  they 
were  set  against  the  colony  by  Carey  and  Porter. 
Suddenly,  in  the  latter  part  of  September,  171 1, 
some  of  the  nation  captured  and  most  cruelly  burned 
Lawson,  whom  they  had  liked  for  many  years,  and 

VOL.  II.— 24. 


370  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

with  him  a  negro  servant,  while  they  held  Baron  de 
Graffenried  prisoner  for  five  weeks,  and  surprised 
New  Berne  and  Bath,  killing  hundreds  of  men, 
women,  and  children  with  frightful  tortures.  Gov- 
ernor Hyde,  in  spite  of  great  opposition  from  the 
Quakers  and  the  partisans  of  the  defeated  and  ab- 
sent Carey,  added  some  volunteers  to  the  small  and 
undisciplined  militia.  On  his  appeal  to  neighbour- 
ing colonies,  the  Virginians  refused  aid  in  spite  of 
Spotswood's  urging;  but  the  latter's  private  help 
brought  about  the  rescue  of  Graffenried.  South 
Carolina  promptly  sent  Colonel  John  Barnwell  with 
a  small  force  of  militia  and  many  of  the  Tuscaroras' 
ancient  enemies,  the  Muskogees,  Creeks,  Yamas- 
sees,  and  the  Sioux  Catawbas.  After  a  march  of 
over  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through  winter 
woods,  they  fell  upon  the  Tuscaroras  near  the  Neuse 
and  defeated  them  with  such  enormous  loss  that 
their  war-chief,  Handcock,  retreated  to  a  stockade 
near  New  Berne,  and  made  a  treaty  of  peace  with 
Barnwell.  But  some  say  that  the  victors,  returning 
to  Charles  Town,  seized  the  inhabitants  of  several 
quiet  Tuscarora  villages,  and  carried  them  off  to 
sell  to  West  India  slavers,  and  that  this  caused  a 
new  outbreak  which  threatened  to  destroy  every 
settlement  on  Pamlico  and  Albemarle.  The  hor- 
rors were  soon  increased  by  yellow  fever;  Governor 
Hyde  died,  with  hundreds  of  others;  but  his  place 
was  filled  by  an  abler  man,  Colonel  Thomas  Pol- 
lock, President  of  the  Council  and  Colonel  of  the 
Militia.  The  people  fled  to  Virginia  from  the 
double  calamity  of  war  and  pestilence;  but  Spots- 


NORTH  CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH  COLONY     37 1 

wood  sent  them  back.  He  also  secured  an  unwilling 
vote  of  military  aid  from  his  own  burgesses.  Early 
in  the  following  year,  Colonel  James  Moore  of  South 
Carolina,  with  fifty  colonists  and  one  thousand  Ind- 
ians, drove  Handcock  and  his  tribes  to  a  large  fort 
in  what  is  now  Snow  Hill,  Greene  County,  where 
six  hundred  were  made  prisoners  at  once.  The 
combined  forces  vigorously  followed  up  their  vict- 
ory, driving  the  remnant  of  the  broken  nation  to 
the  upper  waters  of  the  Roanoke.  In  the  early 
spring  the  North  Carolina  Parliament  voted  eight 
thousand  pounds  for  supplies,  issuing  their  first  bills 
of  credit;  and  put  forth  all  their  strength,  until,  fin- 
ally, Spotswood  induced  Handcock  to  give  up  the 
fight  through  the  friendly  aid  of  Tom  Blunt,  head 
war-chief  of  a  body  of  the  Tuscaroras  in  Bertie 
Precinct,  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  uprising. 
Then  the  great  nation,  broken  by  their  losses  in  dead 
and  in  captives  taken  to  the  South  Carolina  slave 
market,  retired  northward  to  Oneida  Lake,  where 
they  were  admitted  into  the  Long  House,  thus  mak- 
ing the  sixth  in  the  Confederacy  of  the  Six  Nations. 
In  memory  of  this  their  only  Indian  war,  the 
colonists  for  a  long  time  observed  a  solemn  fast  on 
September  22nd,  the  anniversary  of  the  massacres 
at  New  Berne  and  Bath.  But  the  expenses  of  the 
war,  or  the  issue  of  paper  money  to  meet  them, 
brought  on  a  long  train  of  new  troubles,  and  many 
years  passed  before  the  colonists  had  any  measure 
of  the  solid  comfort  they  had  known  in  the  old 
days  of  barter,  when  long-standing  or  intricate  ac- 
counts could  be  squared  by  **  jumping  settlements." 


3/2  IHE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

According  to  Hildreth,  a  general  biennial  As- 
sembly, held  in  May,  1713,  at  the  house  of  Captain 
Richard  Sanderson  at  Little  River,  enacted  the 
earliest  laws  of  North  Carolina  now  extant.  At 
that  time,  "  by  his  Excellency  the  Palatine,  and 
the  rest  of  the  true  and  absolute  Lords  Proprietors 
of  Carolina,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  General  Assembly  for  the  north-east  part  of  said 
Province,"  a  revision  of  the  colony's  previous  legis- 
lation was  made,  and  all  laws  not  especially  re- 
enacted  were  repealed.  Apparently  it  was  not 
known  that  Queen  Anne  had  died  fifteen  months 
before. 

In  1714,  the  proprietors  sent  out  Governor  Charles 
Eden,  who  remained  for  eight  years,  until  his  death, 
the  ablest,  as  well  as  the  most  popular  Governor 
the  colony  ever  had.  He  made  his  seat  of  govern- 
ment at  Edenton,  a  village  of  fifty  poor  cottages, 
and,  as  Colonel  Byrd  said,  the  only  capital  in  the 
world  without  a  place  of  worship.  The  year  after 
Eden's  coming,  the  legislation  of  the  Assembly  was 
formally  confirmed.  The  Governor  and  five  of  his 
Council  were  nominated  by  the  proprietors;  the 
other  councillors  were  named  by  the  representatives 
of  the  people  —  who,  in  their  turn,  were  elected  by 
the  freemen  in  precincts  or  divisions  of  the  two  great 
counties,  Albemarle  and  Bath. 

For  the  next  forty  years  the  history  of  this 
community  is  more  meagre  than  that  of  any  other 
English  colony  in  America.  In  those  days,  when 
Cape  Fear  and  the  island  of  New  Providence  were 
the   headquarters   of   fifteen  hundred  pirates,    who 


o    c 
^     So 

u 

ID 


NORTH  CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH  COLONY     375 

"  swept  the  sea  from  Newfoundland  to  Brazil,"  we 
have  one  faint  picture  of  Governor  Eden  sitting  in 
state,  with  "  Blackbeard,"  the  terror  of  the  coast 
before  him  to  beg  for  himself  and  twenty  others  the 
pardon  offered  by  the  new  king,  George  I.,  to  all 
pirates  who  should  surrender  and  promise  reform. 
This  notorious  sea-robber,  known  as  Teach  or 
Thatch,  though  his  real  name  was  Drummond, 
swore  that  he  would  live  as  a  model  citizen  and 
family  man ;  which  he  proceeded  to  do,  with  his 
fourteenth  wife,  as  soon  as  Eden  granted  him  the 
pardon  and  leave  to  take  up  his  residence  on  the 
shore  of  Pamlico.  In  the  next  scene  we  see  Black- 
beard  putting  out  once  more  to  sea  under  the  skull 
and  cross-bones.  Governor  Eden  was  obliged  to 
send  with  all  haste  to  Governor  Spotswood  of  Vir- 
ginia for  help  to  recapture  him.  Lieutenant  May- 
nard,  a  gallant  young  officer  of  the  royal  navy, 
brought  two  armed  sloops  into  Pamlico  just  as 
Blackbeard  was  thinking  of  escaping  with  twenty  of 
his  most  hardened  men— perhaps  the  same  who  had 
repented  with  him.  There  was  a  desperate  fight, 
from  which  the  lieutenant  returned  to  the  Chesa- 
peake to  claim  his  reward  for  the  head  of  the  old 
pirate,  which  hung  from  his  bowsprit.  All  the  sea- 
board settlers  from  Maryland  to  Florida  breathed  a 
sigh  of  relief. 

About  ten  years  after  the  Tuscarora  outbreak,  a 
difference  over  boundaries  gave  the  Virginians  occa- 
sion to  send  Colonel  William  Byrd  into  what  they 
still  called  Rogues'  Harbour.  In  his  notes  of  the 
journey  we   have  the   only   record   of  a  stranger's 


3/6  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

impression  of  the  colony  since  that  of  George  Fox's 
visit  years  before.  Even  allowing  for  a  Virginian's 
prejudices,  it  is  likely  that  there  was  much  truth  in 
the  prosperous  planter's  picture  of  poverty,  indol- 
ence, and  thriftlessness  such  as  was  unknown  in  any 
of  the  other  colonies.  All  historians  agree  that 
there  was  not  only  less  town  life,  but  less  social 
unity  and  aristocratic  feeling  here  than  in  any  other 
colony.  Few  were  the  large  plantations  with  a 
mansion  and  a  rich,  well-educated  master;  and 
many  were  the  small  farms  or  rude  clearings,  worked 
after  a  fashion  by  the  women  rather  than  the  men, 
by  black  slaves,  or  poor,  indentured  white  servants. 
There  were  not  enough  slaves  to  develop  the  execut- 
ive ability  shown  by  the  rich  planters  of  Maryland, 
Virginia,  and  South  Carolina ;  but  there  were  enough 
to  do  the  hardest  of  the  manual  labour  and  make 
their  owners  despise  it. 

The  white  redemptioner,  when  his  bondage  was 
over,  had  little  difficulty  in  rising  to  the  level  of  his 
former  masters.  With  neither  good  harbours  nor 
the  rivalries  of  a  fast  growing  population,  the  nearest 
approach  to  enterprise  was  the  bringing  in  of  furs 
by  strings  of  pack-horses  from  the  Indians,  and  re- 
shipping  the  stock,  either  in  small  New  England 
vessels  or  on  fresh  horses  overland  to  Virginia. 
Although  living  near  the  water  and  going  hither 
and  thither  in  their  light,  flat  pungies,  the  North 
Carolinians  neither  built  sea-going  craft  nor  navig- 
ated them,  and  neglected  excellent  fisheries.  On 
their  poor  and  isolated  farms  they  grew  tobacco  and 
a  few  necessary  vegetables,  and  bought  a  few  articles 


NORTH   CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH  COLONY     379 

from  Yankee  skippers,  but  went  without  even  the 
simplest  things  rather  than  try  to  manufacture  them. 
Apparently  they  were  blind  to  the  fact  that  fortunes 
stood  about  them  in  the  yellow  pine  "  then  and 
now  famous  for  its  hardness  and  durability,"  says 
Mr.  Fiske.  Mr.  Doyle  points  out  that  their  tar 
might  have  undersold  that  of  Scandinavia  in  the  Eng- 
lish market,  had  there  been  sufficient  intelligence 
and  industry  to  insure  good  packing.  Horned 
cattle  might  have  been  raised  abundantly,  but  "  the 
management  of  a  dairy  was  beyond  the  skill  of  a 
North  Carolina  housewife.  Even  hunting  seems  to 
have  been  little  practised,  and  the  colonists  were 
content  to  live  almost  wholly  on  pork."  Branded 
swine  ran  wild  in  droves  through  all  the  woods  until 
the  proper  season  to  hunt  them  down  for  killing. 
Horses  raised  in  the  same  fashion  were  almost  as 
plentiful.  Men  and  women  went  everywhere  on 
horseback;  rather  than  make  journeys  on  foot  they 
lived  and  died  with  most  of  their  province  unex- 
plored. Many  differences  were  settled  by  Judge 
Lynch;  the  more  formal  courts  were  held,  as  Mr. 
Fiske  says,  **  in  taverns,  where  the  tedium  of  busi- 
ness was  relieved  by  glasses  of  grog,  while  the 
judges'  decisions  were  not  put  on  record,  but  were 
simply  shouted  by  the  crier  from  the  inn  door  or  at 
the  nearest  market-place." 

Mr.  Doyle  likens  their  political  state  to  that  of 
Northern  Italy  in  the  Middle  Ages,  when  nobody 
thought  of  paying  tribute  to  Caesar,  for  all  were 
Caesars.  Meetings  except  for  public  business  were 
rare.     At  any  function  the  entertainment  consisted 


380  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

of  strong  drinks,  gambling,  and  free-fights.  With 
the  outside  world  there  was  but  the  slender  con- 
nection of  New  England  traders,  who  occasionally 
braved  the  sand-bars  and  pirates,  and  of  mails  from 
Virginia  not  once  a  month. 

King  George  I.,  jealous  of  every  charter  that 
allowed  the  enactment  of  laws  without  the  royal. as- 
sent, managed  to  take  to  himself  many  of  the 
privileges  and  powers  of  the  proprietors.  In  1722, 
after  Governor  Eden  died,  his  Majesty  appointed 
George  Burrington,  "  a  vulgar  ruffian  who  had 
served  a  term  in  prison  for  an  infamous  assault  upon 
an  old  woman."  After  a  few  wretched  years,  the 
King  replaced  him  by  Sir  Richard  Everhard,  who 
quite  equalled  him  in  wickedness.  Thus,  by  1729, 
all  the  proprietors  but  Carteret  were  willing  to  sell 
to  the  Crown  their  entire  interests  in  the  "  many- 
headed  palatinate  "  for  somewhat  less  than  ^50,000 
sterling;  and  they  received  the  price  as  an  unex- 
pected piece  of  good  luck.  Some  twenty  years 
later  Carteret's  share  was  set  off  between  34°  35' 
north  latitude  and  the  Virginia  line  from  the  Atlan- 
tic to  the  Pacific,  and  was  ceded  by  him  to  the 
province  of  Georgia.  North  Carolina  is  said  to  have 
been    the    only    colony   transferred    to    the    Crown 

with  the  peaceful  assent  of  all  parties." 


CHAPTER    XIV 


AN    UNSUBMISSIVE   CROWN   PROVINCE 


AS  soon  as  North  Carolina  became  a  royal  pro- 
vince, George  II.  unblushingly  returned  the 
brutal  George  Burrington — a  precious  model  for 
the  first  Crown  Governor— to  displace  Everhard 
because  he  ''  was  making  haste  by  secret  grants  to 
dispose  of  lands  without  bargain  for  quit-rents  or 
price,  even  issuing  blank  patents."  Burrington 
wrote  to  Newcastle  that  the  people  were  *'  indolent 
and  crafty,  impatient  of  government,  and  neither  to 
be  cajoled  nor  outwitted  by  any  ruler,  .  .  .  the 
Council  set  aside  and  the  General  Court  suppressed  ; 
and  neither  peace  nor  order."  That  was  because 
his  parliament  "  directed  its  attention  to  griev- 
ances," saying  that  "  the  country  languished  under 
the  exactions  of  oppressive  fees."  After  he  had 
exerted  "  all  his  power  ...  to  deny  the  right 
of  instituting  inquiries  or  expressing  complaint 
.  .  .  the  first  royal  legislature  separated  without 
enacting  a  law,"  although  it  managed  to  get  the 
Governor  on  the  scanty  records  for  "  scandalous, 
opprobrious,   and  malacious  words,"   drunken  and 

381 


382  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Otherwise    outrageous    conduct    and    tyranny;     for 
which  he  was  displaced. 

In  1734,  his  Majesty  sent  out  Gabriel  Johnston, 
a  Scotchman,  whose  prudent,  though  far  from 
serene  rule,  lasted  for  the  next  twenty  years.  He 
found  the  people  "  wild  and  barbarous,"  paying 
"  the  servants  of  the  Crown  scantily  and  tardily," 
and  ready  for  a  battle  royal  when  he  attacked  the 
rent-roll,  which  the  representatives  had  framed  to 
suit  their  constituents.  Governor  Johnston,  de- 
pendent on  this  for  his  salary,  undertook  to  enforce 
payment  by  instituting  a  court  of  exchequer,  where- 
upon the  Legislature  imprisoned  the  King's  officers 
for  distraining  the  rent.  He  dissolved  the  House, 
but  a  new  one  was  as  bad ;  and  so  they  went  on. 
Ten  years  later  he  wrote  to  the  Board  of  Trade  that 
he  could  not  see  how  the  government  was  to  be 
kept  up,  "  as  the  officers  were  obliged  for  subsist- 
ence to  live  on  small  plantations,  their  salaries  eight 
years  in  arrears."  But  he  found  a  way.  The  two 
old  counties  of  Albemarle  and  Bath  had  disappeared 
by  this  time;  the  precincts  into  which  they  had 
been  divided  were  raised  into  counties,  each  having 
five  representatives,  while  new  counties  as  they 
were  settled  and  erected  in  the  southerly  portion 
of  the  province  had  each  but  two  representatives. 
This  inequality  was  the  latter's  grievance  ;  and 
Johnston  won  them  to  his  side  by  rushing  a  measure 
for  equal  representation  on  a  certain  occasion  when 
a  majority  of  the  northern  members  were  absent  from 
the  House;  at  the  same  time  removing  the  capital 
from  New  Berne  to  the  new  town  of  Wilmington. 


NORTH  CAROLINA,    ELEVEN  TIF  COLONY     383 

The  northern  counties,  disputing  the  regularity  of 
this  session  and  carrying  their  protest  to  England, 
only  made  matters  worse,  for  the  Crown  upheld  the 
Governor.  Then  the  rent-rolls  were  made  up,  the 
rents  collected,  and  the  poor  officials  received  their 
pay. 

As  time  slipped  on  towards  the  middle  of  the 
century,  it  wrought  great  changes  in  this  province, 
chiefly  through  the  long-snubbed  southern  counties. 
They  were  peopled  by  many  small  freeholders  who 
worked  for  themselves,  with  few  negroes  or  white 
servants.  Some  were  Germans,  who  had  come 
down  from  Pennsylvania;  pious,  industrious  famil- 
ies, though  uneducated  and  keeping  to  their  own 
language,  the  "  Pennsylvania  Dutch."  Great 
strength  also  had  been  brought  into  this  region 
after  the  collapse  of  the  Jacobite  rebellion,  in  1745, 
by  a  large  number  of  the  families  of  the  defeated 
Scotch  Highlanders,  among  them  Flora  Macdonald, 
who  had  saved  Prince  Charlie's  life  from  the  red- 
coats of  George  II.  When  the  Americans  rebelled 
against  his  grandson,  George  III.,  she  returned  with 
her  husband  to  the  mother-country. 

The  greatest  body  of  newcomers,  whose  members 
and  character,  with  their  industry,  enterprise,  and 
rigid  Presbyterian  religion,  quite  made  over  the  once 
lawless  and  shiftless  colony,  were  the  old  Scotch 
stock  from  Ulster  County,  Ireland.  In  these 
counties,  under  the  encouragement  of  parliament- 
ary bounties,  tar,  pitch,  and  resin  from  the  vast 
pine  forests  became  the  staple  export.  After  some 
time  there  were  negro  plantations  about  Cape  Fear 


384  '^^ii^    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

growing  rice  in  the  swamps  and  maize  on  alluvial 
lands.  But  the  colony  still  ranked  as  the  least  com- 
mercial of  the  Thirteen  ;  the  currency  was  worth 
but  one  for  fourteen  in  London,  and  only  one  for 
ten  at  home.  Although  there  were  about  seventy 
thousand  white  people,  almost  twice  as  many  as  in 
South  Carolina,  and  about  twenty  thousand  negroes, 
there  was  not  a  village  of  any  size. 

The  next  Governor,  Arthur  Dobbs,  had  some 
name  as  a  writer  in  England ;  a  fact  which  flattered 
the  parliament  into  "  gratitude  "  for  a  man  of 
"  known  abilities  and  good  character."  They  even 
promised  to  "  forget  former  contests"  until  their 
rara  avis  began  to  dispute  the  acts  of  the  House 
like  any  ordinary  mortal,  and  to  pick  quarrels  with 
their  Speaker  and  Treasurer,  Starkie,  whom  he 
called  a  "  Republican  of  Puritanic  humility  but 
unbounded  ambition."  A  newspaper,  the  N'ortJi 
Carolina  Gazette,  was  started  in  1749,  "  with  fresh- 
est adviqes,  foreign  and  domestic."  Three  years 
later  the  first  edition  of  the  Provineial  Laws  was 
printed. 

When  the  French  and  Indians  opened  war  in  the 
Ohio  Valley,  this  colony's  regiment  of  four  hundred 
and  fifty  men  was  the  only  response  the  Virginians 
received  to  their  first  call  for  help.  Later,  eight 
thousand  pounds  was  voted  toward  Braddock's  ex- 
pedition against  Duquesne.  The  next  year  three 
hundred  levies  were  sent  into  South  Carolina  to 
co-operate  with  the  Royal  Americans  and  the  Vir- 
ginian troops,  when  it  was  feared  that  the  Cherokees 
would   be   drawn   away   from   their   allegiance  and 


NORTH  CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH  COLONY     385 


would  push  the  fighting  into  the  CaroHnas.  At  the 
opening  of  the  next  year,  Dobbs  went  to  Philadel- 
phia and  agreed  with  the  Governors  of  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  and  Virginia  upon  the  quota  of  men  to 
be  furnished  by  his  colony;  but,  from  first  to  last, 
these  planters 
s  u  ff  e  r  e  d  no- 
thing  in  the 
"Old  French 
and  Indian 
War"  except 
by  a  few  small 
frays  between 
some  back  set- 
tlers and  a  body 
of  the  friendly 
Cherokees  r  e  - 
turned  from 
their  share  in 
the  capture  of 
Duquesne.  Of 
Pontiac's  war 
they  saw  no- 
thing; nor  did 
they  take  much 

active  part  in  the  new  troubles  with  King  George 
III.,  which  soon  broke  over  all  the  colonies.  Be- 
tween the  great  provinces  on  both  sides  of  her, 
North  Carolina  was  comparatively  of  small  consid- 
eration in  those  days.  The  delegates  were  not  in 
session  to  send  representatives  to  the  Stamp  Act 
Congress,  if  they  had  wished  to  do  so. 

VOL.  II.— 25 


HUGH    U'ADDELL. 


386  THE    TllIRTEEX   COLONIES 

In  the  next  year,  1764,  during  the  lull  that  fol- 
lowed the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  Dobbs  was  suc- 
ceeded by  William  Tryon,  a  Governor  who  for  the 
next  seven  years  taught  the  people  of  North  Caro- 
lina a  lesson  in  royal  tyranny  which  placed  them  in 
the  forefront  of  the  resistance.  It  has  been  said 
that  Tryon  trampled  out  all  the  colonists'  trust  in 
the  servants  of  the  Crown,  while  he  won  at  the 
Colonial  Ofifice  the  reputation  of  being  the  ablest 
governor  in  America.  Under  his  tyranny  and  the 
extortion  of  sheriffs  who  levied  heavy  taxes  and 
rendered  no  account  of  their  collections  to  anyone, 
the  people  took  matters  into  their  own  hands, 
especially  in  the  middle  counties.      Hildreth  says: 

"  In  this  very  barren  portion  of  the  Province,  with  a 
population  generally  poor  and  ignorant,  but  capable  of 
self-defence  after  their  own  fashion,  under  the  name  of 
Regulators,  borrowed  from  South  Carolina,  they  formed 
associations  which  not  only  refused  to  pay  taxes,  but 
assaulted  the  persons  and  property  of  lawyers,  judges, 
sheriffs,  and  other  obnoxious  individuals,  and  even  pro- 
ceeded so  far  as  to  break  up  sessions  of  the  courts." 

One  of  their  leaders  w^as  expelled  from  the  House 
of  Delegates;  but  the  Assembly  could  do  no  more 
than  file  away  the  broken  promises;  and  at  length 
Tryon,  in  May,  1771,  led  a  body  of  volunteers  to 
enforce  obedience.  The  Regulators  met  them  in  a 
bloody  battle  at  Alamance  on  the  Haw,  near  the 
headwaters  of  Cape  Fear  River.  The  Governor  left 
some  two  hundred  of  the  rebels  dead  upon  the  field, 
made   many    prisoners,    and    hanged    six    for    high 


NORTH   CAROLINA,    ELEVENTH   COLONY     387 

treason.  This  extended  the  Regulators'  hatred 
from  the  royal  officers  to  their  own  brethren  of  the 
lower  counties.  In  the  next  year,  when  Lord  Dun- 
more  was  promoted  to  Virginia,  New  York  was 
offered  to  Tryon  as  a  reward  for  the  "  rapacious 
violence  "  with  which  in  this  mean  province  he  had 
proved  his  loyalty  to  the  Crown. 

His  greatest  service  perhaps  was  to  drive  several 
bodies  of  his  hardy  rebels  into  the  magnificent 
wilderness  of  what  are  now  the  States  of  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee.  Before  this  time  it  had  ceased  to  be 
true  of  the  North  Carolinians  that  they  would  travel 
no  farther  than  horse  or  boat  could  carry  them. 
Their  hunters  and  Indian  traders  had  been  among 
the  most  fearless  and  enthusiastic  explorers  of  the 
Great  Smoky  Mountains  and  the  country  beyond. 
The  pioneer  was  Daniel  Boone,  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  settler  in  North  Carolina,  afterwards 
founder  of  the  first  settlement  in  Kentucky.  With 
him  was  James  Knox,  leader  of  "  the  Long  Hunt- 
ers," who  found  their  way  down  the  Cumberland  to 
the  limestone  bluff  where  Nashville  now  stands. 
Another,  James  Robertson,  started  among  his  neigh- 
bours the  emigration  which,  in  1771,  penetrated 
the  Cherokee  country  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the 
Watauga,  one  of  the  headwaters  of  the  Tennessee, 
where  there  was  already  a  small  settlement  of 
Virginians.  They  supposed  that  all  this  country 
was  within  the  limits  of  Virginia,  and  under  her 
protection  against  the  Indians.  When  they  found 
that  they  were  on  the  territory  of  disordered  North 
Carolina,  they  resolved  to  take  care  of  themselves. 


388  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

All  of  this  region  not  within  the  Virginia  boundaries 
was  still  claimed  as  a  hunting-ground  by  several 
tribes,  and  was  likely  to  be  entered  by  any  of  them 
at  any  time,  in  no  friendly  spirit  toward  English 
invaders  notwithstanding  the  treaty  which  all  the 
nations  had  made  with  the  King  of  England  after 
the  failure  of  Pontiac's  rebellion.  So  Robertson, 
acting  for  the  settlement,  visited  the  Council  of  the 
Cherokees  and  obtained  from  them  a  lease  of  the 
lands  and  their  promise  of  confidence  and  friendship. 
Meantime  Tryon's  tyranny  added  to  the  numbers, 
among  others,  John  Sevier,  the  son  of  a  Huguenot, 
whose  "  skill  and  dashing  prowess  made  him  the 
most  renowned  Indian  fighter  of  the  South-west." 
He  and  Robertson,  a  mighty  hunter  and  a  born 
leader,  towering  above  the  mingled  good  and  bad  of 
their  fellow-settlers,  formed  them  into  a  new  colony 
which  was  intended  to  be  free  from  the  evils  of  the 
provincial  government  they  had  left  behind  them. 
In  the  spring  of  1772,  they  held  a  general  conven- 
tion, somewhat  like  a  New  England  town-meeting, 
at  which  the  Watauga  colonists  "  set  to  the  people 
of  America  the  example  of  erecting  themselves  into 
a  state  independent  of  the  authority  of  the  British 
King."  It  was  the  first  constitution  adopted  west  of 
the  mountains,  or  by  a  community  American  born. 
Under  it  for  many  years  the  pioneers  exercised  all 
the  rights  of  statehood  in  a  perfectly  independent 
and  democratic  manner,  without  getting  into  trouble 
with  the  neighbouring  colonial  legislatures,  winning 
for  themselves  the  unique  reputation  of  being  an 
orderly,  well-governed  portion  of  Carolina. 


NORTH   CAROLINA,   ELEVENTH   COLONY     389 

The  new  Governor,  Josiah  Martin,  followed  a 
different  policy  from  Tryon's.  He  tried  to  win  over 
the  Regulators  by  promising  to  redress  their  griev- 
ances; but  he  could  not  make  this  a  submissive 
colony.  The  House,  by  refusing  to  comply  with 
certain  demands  of  the  Crown  in  respect  to  the 
provincial  courts,  actually  kept  the  colony  without 
any  courts  at  all  for  a  year.  They  also  refused  to 
quarter  the  royal  troops  sent  to  them,  and  adopted 
the  Virginia  resolutions;  and  when  they  were  dis- 
missed in  consequence,  the  delegates  met  privately, 
entered  into  the  non-importation  agreement,  and 
took  Boston's  side  against  the  Boston  Port  Bill. 
By  invitation  of  the  Committee  of  Vigilance  for 
Wilmington,  a  convention  of  the  colony's  represent- 
atives met  at  New  Berne  on  the  first  of  August,  1774, 
and  sent  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress  at 
Philadelphia.  Martin  informed  the  Ministry,  with 
truth,  that  there  were  large  parties  of  both  Tories 
and  non-fighting  Quakers,  besides  many  Scotch 
Highlanders,  "  very  ignorant  and  very  loyal,"  and 
Germans  who  knew  little  of  political  rights  and  less 
of  the  language  of  their  seditious  neighbours.  But 
the  Ministry  were  sufficiently  impressed  to  exempt 
North  Carolina,  with  New  York  and  Georgia,  in  the 
new  Restraining  Bill  of  1775.  The  agent  of  the 
province  helped  further  to  blind  the  home  govern- 
ment by  holding  back  a  petition  from  the  Assembly, 
which,  as  he  declared,  contained  "  many  strange 
inaccuracies  and  reflections  on  the  Parliament  and 
Ministry.  But  both  the  Assembly  and  a  provincial 
congress  which  met  at  the  same  time,  in  April,  1775, 


390  THE    TN IK  TEEN   COLONIES 

and  was  for  the  most  part  composed  of  the  same  mem- 
bers, approved  the  proceedings  of  the  Conliiiental 
Congress,  and  appointed  delegates  to  the  next  one. 
On  news  of  the  fight  at  Lexington,  an  Associa- 
tion was  formed  pledged  to  defend  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  colonies  by  force  if  necessary. 
On  May  31,  the  people  of  Charlotte,  Mecklen- 
burg County,  held  a  public  indignation  meeting, 
and  passed  resolutions  to  throw  off  the  British  yoke 
and  frame  a  formal  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Although  this  purpose  was  far  from  general,  there 
were  many  in  the  province  who  refused  to  sign  the 
Articles  of  the  Association,  or  to  take  the  oath  of 
neutrality  offered  instead.  The  Associators  had 
made  such  progress  by  July  that  Martin,  alarmed 
for  his  life,  retired  from  his  well-defended  house  at 
New  Berne  to  the  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear ; 
and  when  a  body  of  militia  appeared  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood, he  took  refuge  in  a  sloop-of-war  in  the 
river.  Then  the  Associators  went  about  disarming 
Tories  and  making  the  chief  of  them  prisoners  on 
their  own  plantations.  There  were  so  many  of  them 
in  this  province  that  the  Continental  Congress  voted 
support  for  a  thousand  men  to  keep  them  in  order. 
Then  a  new  convention  at  Hillsborough  voted  three 
regiments  to  carry  out  these  plans,  and  also  ordered 
that  a  proclamation  forbidding  this  meeting,  which 
Martin  had  issued  from  his  retreat,  should  be  burned 
by  the  common  hangman,  as  "  a  scandalous,  mal- 
icious, and  scurrilous  libel  tending  to  disunite  the 
good  people  of  the  province."  These  events  oc- 
curred in  August  and  September  of   1775.      By  the 


NORTH   CAROLINA,    ELEVENTH   COLONY 


391 


Opening  of  the  next  year  Martin  had  organised  a 
small  force  under  two  British  officers,  Scotchmen 
and  leading  men  of  the  clans  of  McLeod  and  Mc- 
Donald largely  represented  in  the  southern  counties. 
To  support  these  forces,  General  Clinton  set  out 
from  Boston  with  a  small  body  of  troops  in  Febru- 


HEADQUARTERS    OF   LORD   CORNWALLIS,    WILMINGTON. 


ary  ;  but,  before  he  could  land,  Moore  marched  from 
Wilmington  with  about  a  thousand  men,  arranged  in 
detachments,  to  head  off  the  first  movements  of  the 
Highlanders.  On  April  ist,  the  tw^o  little  armies 
met  at  Moore's  Creek  Bridge,  with  complete  victory 
for  the  provincials.  The  convention  issued  orders 
at  once  that  four  more  regiments  should  be  raised, 
that  their  arms  should  be  taken  from  all  who  would 


392 


THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 


not  sign  the  Association,  and  that  the  delegates  at 
Philadelphia  should  join  with  the  other  colonists  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  On  the  i8th  of 
December  a  constitution  was  adopted,  creating  the 
State  of  North  Carolina. 


^l!^^ 


CHAPTER    XV 

SOUTH   CAROLINA,    TWELFTH    COLONY — AN   UN- 
GOVERNABLE   PALATINATE 


SOUTH  CAROLINA  takes  twelfth  place  among 
the  **  original  "  colonies  in  virtue  of  several 
barely  recorded  plantations,  made  from  ten  to 
seventeen  years  after  the  beginnings  of  North  Caro- 
lina. No  two  of  all  the  English  settlements  were 
less  like  sister  colonies  than  these,  which  theoretic- 
ally were  under  the  same  government  for  sixty-four 
years.  The  southern  colony  became  at  once  what 
the  northern  colony  could  not  and  would  not  be  — 
a  rich,  slave-holding,  aristocratic,  proprietary  pro- 
vince, attempting  to  carry  out  the  theory  of  a  govern- 
ment "  agreeable  to  monarchy  "  and  avoiding  "  the 
erecting  of  a  numerous  democracy."  In  March, 
1663,  the  restored  King  had  granted  the  whole 
region  between  Virginia  and  Florida  to  a  body  of  pal- 
atine proprietors,  naming  it  Carolina, — not  for  him- 
self, he  said,  but  for  his  martyred  father, — although 
as  a  matter  of  fact  the  name  had  been  upon  the 
region  ever  since,  in  1562,  it  was  bestowed  by  the 
French  who  found  and  fortified  "  the  Port  Roval." 


394  '^^^    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

in  honour  of  their  own  king,  Charles  IX.  Charles 
I.  of  England  had  granted  it,  or  part  of  it  called 
Carolina  Florida,  to  his  attorney-general,  Sir  Robert 
Heath,  and  also  a  strip  to  Lord  Baltimore,  who 
preferred  some  of  the  Chesapeake  country.  Those 
who  received  the  grant  from  Charles  II.  were  mostly 
noblemen  who  had  received  their  titles  for  their  share 
in  restoring  him  to  his  throne — George  Monk,  Duke 
of  Albemarle;  Edward  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon; 
Anthony  Ashley  Cooper,  afterwards  Earl  of  Shaftes- 
bury; Lord  Craven;  Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir  George 
Carteret,  the  proprietors  of  New  Jersey  ;  Lord  Berke- 
ley's brother  Sir  William,  the  Governor  of  Virginia; 
and  Sir  John  Colleton.  To  this  day  their  names 
are  borne  by  rivers,  sounds,  and  counties  within 
their  long-extinct  jurisdiction. 

Some  historians,  from  what  seems  a  slender  chain 
of  evidence,  assume  that  the  beginnings  of  this 
colony  were  made  by  a  party  of  rich  gentlemen 
planters  from  Barbadoes.  Though  at  first  settling 
on  the  Cape  Fear  River,  well  within  what  after- 
wards was  declared  the  province  of  North  Carolina, 
they  never  had  any  connection  with  the  "  Rogues' 
Harbour"  of  Albemarle,  some  one  hundred  and 
sixty  miles  north-east  of  them.  It  is  said  that  they 
did  not  like  the  government  of  Barbadoes,  and  in 
August,  1663,  petitioned  the  proprietors  of  the 
new  province  of  Carolina  for  leave  to  make  an  ex- 
tensive plantation  there  under  their  own  govern- 
ment. Before  receiving  an  answer,  apparently,  they 
or  their  agents  landed  at  Cape  Fear, under  the  leader- 
ship of  Sir  John  Yeamans,  also  of  Barbadoes,  who 


SOUTH   CAROLINA,    TWELFTH   COLONY       3(^5 

was  eager  to  repair  the  fortune  which  his  gallant 
father  had  lost  in  devotion  to  the  rights  of  the 
Stuart  monarchy.  Nearly  fifty  years  afterwards, 
the  charming  History  of  North  Carolina  by  the  sur- 
veyor, John  Lawson  (whose  pitiable  murder  opened 
the  Tuscarora  war),  seems  to  describe  this  party  as 
the  one  that  found  "  a  writing  left  in  a  post  at  the 
point  of  Cape  Fear  River  by  those  New  England 
men  that  left  cattle  with  the  Indians  there,  the  con- 
tents whereof  tended  not  only  to  the  disparagement 
of  the  land  about  the  said  river,  but  also  to  the  great 
discouragement  of  all  such  as  should  hereafter  come 
into  those  parts  to  settle." 

The  Barbadoes  gentlemen  took  this  for  a  lie, 
pushed  their  way  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  up  the  river,  and  prepared  an  "  answer  to  that 
scandalous  writing,"  saying  "  what  we  have  seen, 
facing  both  the  river  and  the  branches  of  Cape  Fair 
aforesaid  "  [making  the  change  of  one  letter  alter 
the  significance  of  the  name]  "  as  good  land  and  as 
well  timbered  as  any  we  have  seen  in  any  other  part 
of  the  world,  sufficient  to  accommodate  thousands 
of  our  English  nation,  and  lying  commodiously  by 
the  said  river's  side." 

The  climate  was  agreeable,  the  soil  of  various 
qualities,  the  country  abounded  in  game  and  w^as 
peopled  by  red  men  who  promised  peace.  "  Up 
the  river  at  about  twenty  or  thirty  miles  "  the 
natives  sold  to  these  enthusiastic  visitors  a  tract  of 
some  thirty  miles  square,  and  it  is  said  that  a  por- 
tion of  the  company  took  possession  at  once.  Like 
good    Cavaliers,   as  Yeamans  was  supposed  to  be, 


39^  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

they  called  the  place  Charles  Town,  for  the  king 
who  had  been  murdered  and  his  son  who  had  been 
restored  to  the  throne. 

The  story  next  carries  Yeamans  to  England  to  re- 
port to  the  proprietors  the  value  of  the  country, 
which  New  Englanders  were  at  once  coveting  and 
crying  down.  While  the  palatine  association  denied 
the  adventurers'  request  for  an  independent  plant- 
ation, they  accepted  the  Barbadoes  planters,  told 
Yeamans  to  obtain  as  many  more  as  he  could,  and 
appointed  him  Governor  from  the  Cape  Fear  River 
to  the  San  Mateo,  Florida,  erecting  that  broad 
region  into  the  county  or  colony  of  Clarendon.  He 
was  instructed  to  set  up  a  remarkably  free  govern- 
ment, much  like  that  which  Stephens  was  authorised 
to  maintain  in  Albemarle.  Until  the  proprietors' 
own  system  was  prepared,  Yeamans  was  enjoined 
to  "  make  things  easy  to  the  people  of  New  Eng- 
land ;  from  which  the  greatest  emigrations  are 
expected,  as  the  Southern  Colonies  are  already 
drained."  But  few  came  hither  from  that  region. 
The  Governor,  returning  by  way  of  Barbadoes,  was 
joined  by  several  hundred  slave-holding  planters  of 
his  own  type.  They  probably  found  the  pioneers 
who  were  holding  the  "Cape  Fair"  River  purchase, 
reconciled  them  to  the  proprietors'  terms,  formed 
their  government,  and  set  their  slaves  to  work. 
Within  a  year  there  were  eight  hundred  people  in 
this  Charles  Town,  on  the  ''  Cape  Fair  "  in  Claren- 
don County,  Carolina.  They  sent  boards,  shingles, 
and  pipe-staves  to  Barbadoes,  and  a  wonderful 
traffic  was  recorded  immediatelv;  but  in  the  next 


SOUTH   CAROLINA,    TlVtLFTJI   COLONY 


399 


year,  1667,  the  proprietors'  Secretary,  Robert  Sand- 
ford,  said  he  found  them  in  great  distress,  and  ap- 
parently they  had  more  reverses  than  successes. 

The  proprietors,  not  content  with  settlers  over 
whom  they  were  merely  landlords,  in  or  about  1669 
undertook  a  separate  plantation,  with  almost  as 
great  earnestness  and  generous  outlay  as  the  Vir- 
ginia Company  of  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  be- 
fore. In  spite,  however,  of  the  experience  gained 
in  that  long  period,  they  began  by  repeating  some 
of  the  mistakes  of  the  First  Colony.  But  they 
made  no  error  in  the  choice  of  the  store-keeper  and 
commander-at-sea  of  their  first  emigration,  Joseph 
West. 

The  Governor  was  a  bigoted  old  Puritan  planter 
of  Bermuda,  William  Sayle,  whom  the  proprietors 
had  appointed  apparently  for  no  other  reasons  than 
because  he  had  been  a  distinguished  figure  among 
colonisers  for  twenty  years,  beginning  with  his  at- 
tempt to  plant  **  the  isles  of  the  Gulf  of  Florida," 
and  because  he  had  lately  been  the  means  of  the 
annexation  of  the  Bahamas  to  Carolina  by  pointing 
out  the  value  of  those  islands  in  case  of  war  between 
England  and  Spain.  He  proved  as  unable  to  man- 
age the  colony  as  might  have  been  expected.  West 
kindly  stated  that  he  was  "  very  aged  and  hath 
much  lost  himself  in  his  government."  Others 
bluntly  declared  that  he  was  "  ancient  and  crazed  "  ; 
but  his  death  soon  placed  matters  in  West's  able 
hands. 

The  jurisdiction  was  described  as  "  lying  south 
and  West  of  Cape  Carteret  [which  both  before  and 


400  THE    THIRTEEN-  COLONIES 

after  that  was  called  Cape  Romaine]  as  far  south  as 
the  Spaniards  would  tolerate."  As  it  began  some 
one  hundred  miles  below  the  seat  of  the  **  Cape 
Fair  Colony,"  it  overlapped  Yeamans's  boundaries 
only  in  words,  and  raised  no  unfriendliness. 

On  an  early  spring  day  of  1670,  in  three  ships,  the 
proprietors'  colony  reached  Port  Royal,  to  which 
they  had  been  sent;  but,  seeming  to  think  it  un- 
comfortably near  the  Spaniards,  they  coasted  north- 
ward and  entered  what  later  was  called  the  Ashley 
River.  About  three  miles  up  this  stream  they 
began  a  plantation  in  what  is  now  South  Carolina, 
on  "  the  first  high  land  convenient  for  tillage  and 
pasturing,"  a  promontory  which  they  named  Albe- 
marle Point.  Although  Spain  and  England  were 
then  at  peace,  a  Spanish  war-ship  started  on  their 
track,  but  learned  at  Stono  Inlet  that  they  had 
taken  a  strong  position,  and  sailed  away.  Cabins 
were  put  up  without  delay  on  ground  that  had  been 
occupied  lately  by  an  Indian  community  wiped  out 
by  sickness  and  wars.  This  settlement  was  named 
Charles  Town  by  the  proprietors.  Some  of  the 
company  chose  to  build  nearer  the  sea,  on  what  they 
called  Oyster  Point,  where  the  junction  of  the  Ash- 
ley and  Cooper  rivers  made  a  remarkable  harbour. 

The  colony  brought  with  them  a  copy  of  the  pro- 
prietors' elaborate  frame  of  government,  Shaftes- 
bury's and  Locke's  "  Grand  Model,"  which  here,  as 
at  Albemarle  Sound,  was  long  imposed  but  never 
utilised.  The  colonists  set  it  aside  as  impossible  to 
execute  for  the  present,  but  assembled  a  parliament 
of  the  five  members  of  the  Grand  Council,  appointed 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,    TWELFTH  COLONY      40 1 

by  the  proprietors,  and  five  others  selected  by  the 
people;  together  with  twenty  delegates  of  the  free- 
men of  the  colony,  and  the  Governor,  o\'er  whom 
the  delegates  had  the  power  of  veto.  A  beginning 
was  made  in  creating  the  Carolinian  nobiHty  by 
bestowing  the  title  of  landgrave  on  John  Locke,  the 
author  of  the  scheme,  on  Carteret,  the  disreputable 
son  of  one  of  the  proprietors,  and  on  Sir  John  Yea- 
mans,  Governor  of  the  colony  on  the  Cape  Fear. 
But  when,  in  the  next  year,  a  revised  copy  of  the 
Constitutions  was  sent  over  with  a  set  of  rules  and 
instructions,  the  people  absolutely  refused  to  con- 
form to  them.  Even  the  lords  proprietors'  own 
colonists  began  their  history  with  a  claim  of  right  to 
laws  suited  to  their  needs,  a  claim  around  which  the 
history  of  the  colony  revolved  for  twenty  years,  and 
which  brought  its  course  as  a  province  to  an  end  in 
advance  of  the  other  twelve  colonies. 

The  proprietors  did  not  allow  the  people's  want 
of  docility  to  check  their  minute  care  for  all  the 
affairs  of  the  Point,  in  order,  they  said,  to  build  up 
gradually  and  carefully  a  community  containing  in 
itself  both  the  agricultural  and  commercial  elements 
needful  for  prosperity.  They  charged  West  to  see 
that  the  men  "  provide  for  the  belly  by  planting  a 
store  of  provisions,"  before  they  did  more  than  ex- 
periment in  raising  products  for  trade.  The  poorer 
settlers  were  to  be  lent  food,  clothes,  and  tools 
from  a  common  store  until  they  were  able  to  pro- 
vide for  themselves.  Their  worships  generously 
granted  during  the  first  year  to  every  freeman  who 
came    out  at  his  own  cost  one    hundred  and   fifty 


402  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

acres  on  small  quit-rents;  with  additional  plots  of 
the  same  size  for  every  able-bodied  man  servant  and 
one  hundred  acres  for  every  woman  servant.  But, 
in  order  to  compel  the  people  to  establish  a  town, 
all  grants  were  within  a  radius  of  about  fifty  miles 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Ashley  River.  Every  free- 
holder was  to  have  a  town  lot  one  twentieth  the  size 
of  his  plantation.  Except  the  original  allotment, 
any  grant  was  invalid  unless  the  occupant  built  a 
two-story  house-  on  his  town  lot.  As  for  the 
country  estates,  every  grant  of  a  barony  was  to  be 
void  if  at  the  end  of  seven  years  it  was  not  occupied 
by  thirty  tenants;  and  every  manor  must  have 
fifteen  tenants.  It  was  forbidden  to  make  settle- 
ment within  two  and  a  half  miles  of  an  Indian  town, 
unless  a  river  lay  between. 

With  futile  strenuousness  it  was  forbidden  to 
harm  the  natives.  These  were  not  high-minded 
settlers  sent  to  invade  this  land  claimed  by  the 
Spaniards.  If  they  had  been,  the  situation  would 
have  been  exasperating  enough.  The  Spaniards 
took  care  that  the  Indians  should  regard  them  as 
enemies  and  soon  give  them  reason  to  carry  their 
guns  always,  whether  building  and  planting,  sweep- 
ing the  rivers  for  fish,  or  gathering  oysters.  It  is 
said  by  Mr.  Doyle,  who  has  had  access  to  records 
denied  to  most  of  us: 

"  From  their  very  earliest  days  the  settlers  were  in- 
volved in  trouble  with  their  savage  neighbours.  The 
Kussoes,  a  tribe  on  the  southern  frontier,  claimed  to  be 
the  allies  of  Spaniards,  and  irritated  the  settlers  by  insults 


SOUTH   CAROLINA,     'IIVKLFTJI   COLOX  V      403 

and  petty  depredations.  Yet  it  is  hard  to  see  what 
injuries  had  been  done  which  could  justify  the  English 
in  declaring  war.  This,  however,  they  did  in  Septem- 
ber, 167 1.  The  Kussoes  were  at  once  defeated,  and  the 
prisoners  sentenced  to  be  sold  out  of  the  colony,  unless 
ransomed  by  their  countrymen.  In  the  next  year  another 
tribe,  the  Westoes,  appeared  so  threatening  that  a  force 
was  raised  against  them.  Nothing,  however,  came  of 
this" — 

but  the  Westoes'  lasting  hatred  and  acts  of  venge- 
ance. Many  of  the  poor  creatures  were  sold  in  the 
West  Indies  so  soon  that  suspicions  were  aroused  in 
England  that  the  colonists  waged  the  wars  chiefly 
for  that  end.  The  proprietors  were  indignant  at 
such  tempting  of  Providence;  some  blamed  West, 
and  while  they  praised  him  for  the  "  care,  fidelity, 
and  prudence  "  he  had  shown,  they  explained  that 
not  being  a  landgrave  he  was  ineligible,  and  replaced 
him  by  Sir  John  Yeamans,  a  man  steeped  in  the 
slavery  sentiment  of  Barbadoes.  They  soon  re- 
gretted this  step,  and  tried  to  retrace  it  after  two 
years.  But,  meantime,  Yeamans  and  his  friends, 
who  seem  to  have  abandoned  the  "  Cape  Fair  "  for 
the  Ashley  and  Cooper  rivers,  settled  the  destiny  of 
the  colony,  in  spite  of  all  the  proprietors  could  do,  by 
opening  the  trade  in  negro  slaves  with  Barbadoes, 
which  then  probably  had  two  blacks  to  every  white 
person,  and  carried  on  slave-stealing  in  Africa  as  its 
one  settled  industry.  While  a  few  New  Englanders 
and  others  bitterly  opposed  slavery,  the  majority 
welcomed  it,  hating  work,  and  declaring,  as  men 
did  in  the  West  Indies,  that  "  without  negro  slaves 


404  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

a  planter  can  never  do  any  great  matter."  Most  of 
them,  who  were  there  to  mend  desperately  low 
fortunes,  and  inchned  to  be  discontented  and 
vicious,  became  enterprising  as  soon  as  this  traffic 
was  opened;  and  the  proprietors'  cherished  "colony 
south-west  of  Cape  Fear  "  was  turned  into  the  par- 
ticular seat  of  slavery  among  all  the  English  settle- 
ments, the  only  place  on  the  mainland  where  the 
lives  of  both  negroes  and  Indians  were  commonly 
held  only  at  their  money  value.  Every  freeman  was 
tempted  to  take  up  land  and  buy  "negars";  and, 
in  spite  of  the  proprietors'  orders,  to  ship  cargoes 
of  lumber  and  furs  with  a  few  other  products  to 
Barbadoes  instead  of  the  English  market,  buy  more 
"  negars  "  and  take  up  more  land.  Yeamans  was 
the  master  of  this  trade,  making  his  fortune  so 
rapidly  that  he  retired  comfortably  to  his  island 
plantations  when,  in  1674,  his  office  was  restored  to 
West,  now  duly  created  a  landgrave. 

The  proprietors  then  considered  the  appalling 
facts  that  for  the  thousands  of  pounds  they  had  ex- 
pended on  the  colony  during  these  four  years,  they 
had  received  practically  no  returns.  Ignoring  their 
own  bad  judgment  in  the  selection  of  colonists  and 
governors,  they  thought  to  mend  matters  by  institut- 
ing such  sweeping  reforms  as  refusing  more  cattle  and 
sending  instead  expensive  outfits  for  vineyards  and 
olive  groves.  For  the  next  four  years,  as  far  as  we 
can  judge  from  conflicting  statements,  their  worships 
continued  and  added  to  these  mistakes,  while  West, 
by  tactful  and  vigorous  management,  offset  them  as 
much  as  possible.      The  best  proof  of  his  efficiency. 


SOUTH   CAROLIXA,     TW EI. Fill   CO/.OXV      405 

says  Mr.  Doyle,  is  the  fact  that  during  that  whole 
time,  though  there  was  no  lack  of  discord  among 
the  settlers,  nor  of  ill-feeling  between  them  and  the 
proprietors,  West  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  good- 
will of  all.  In  his  time  the  parliament  succeeded 
in  making  some  good  and  much-needed  laws,  and 
in  organising  a  militia.  Evidently  he  often  had  his 
hands  full.  The  enlightened  Quaker  proprietor, 
Joseph  Archdale,  said  in  his  Nczv  Description  : 

"  The  most  desperate  Fortunes  first  ventured  over  to 
break  the  Ice,  which  being  generally  the  Ill-livers  of  the 
pretended  Churchmen,  altho'  the  Proprietors  commis- 
sioned one  Colonel  West  their  Governor,  a  moderate, 
just,  pious,  and  valiant  person  ;  yet  having  a  Council  of 
the  loose  principled  Men,  they  grew  so  very  unruly,  that 
they  had  like  to  have  Ruined  tjie  Colony  by  abusing  the 
Indians,  whom  in  prudence  they  ought  to  have  obliged 
in  the  highest  degree." 

They  overreached  the  Indians  in  trade,  stole  their 
women,  punished  them  terribly  for  small  offences; 
and  soon  made  a  regular  traffic  of  seizing  and  selling 
them  to  slave-dealers  of  the  West  Indies,  until  their 
worships  heard  of  it  and  "  for  once  interfered  with 
the  colonists  promptly  and  successfully."  Then, 
on  West's  urgent  plea,  they  found  a  better  class  of 
colonists.  "  Men  of  estate  ventured  where  they 
were  assured  of  fair  dealing." 

Meantime  the  planters  at  "  Oyster  Point,"  on  the 
neck  between  the  Cooper  and  Ashley  rivers,  find- 
ing themselves  lonely,  cut  off  from  the  main  body 
of  the  colony,  but  in  the  more  healthful  place,  had 


406  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

induced  many  to  leave  Albemarle  Point  and  join 
them  by  an  offer  of  one  half  of  their  lands  for 
"  commons  and  pasture."  Ten  years  later,  the 
capital  was  removed,  name  and  all.  In  the  next 
year,  1681,  the  new  Charles  Town  was  regularly  laid 
out  by  John  Culpeper,  who  had  returned  to  do  good 
work,  after  fleeing  to  North  Carolina  to  escape 
hanging  for  his  seditions  and  love  of  popular  liberty. 
He  planned,  says  an  old  chronicler, 

"  large  and  capacious  streets,  in  which  were  reserved 
convenient  places  for  Building  of  a  Church,  Town  House, 
and  other  Publick  Structures,  an  Artillery  Ground  for 
the  Exercise  of  their  Militia,  and  Wharves  for  the  Con- 
venience of  their  Trade  and  Shipping.  At  our  being 
there  was  judged  in  the  Country  a  1000  or  1200  souls  : 
but  the  great  number  of  Families  from  England,  Ireland, 
Barbadoes,  Jamaica,  and  the  Caribees,  which  daily  trans- 
port themselves  thither  have  more  than  doubled  tliat 
Number." 

The  new  Charles  Town  "  attained  a  degree  of  im- 
portance and  completeness  unknown  to  any  other 
city  in  the  Southern  Colonies." 

The  territory  was  divided  into  three  great  counties  : 
Craven,  the  .sparsely  settled  northern  region  ;  Berke- 
ley, the  country  in  and  around  Charles  Town;  and 
Colleton,  southward  from  Berkeley  to  Port  Royal. 

There  was  not  a  flood  of  settlers;  only  about 
three  thousand  in  a  dozen  years.  Besides  the 
proprietors'  planters,  a  small  company  of  Dutch, 
unhappy  since  their  own  New  Netherland  had  be- 
come FLnglish  New  York,  settled  on  the  Ashley  and 


SOUTH   CAROLINA,     TWELFTH   COLONY      407 

attracted  a  large  party  directly  from  Holland  ;  while 
from  Somersetshire  in  England,  Joseph  Blake,  a 
creditable  nephew  of  the  great  admiral,  brought  a 
company  of  "  honest  and  substantial  "  Dissenters. 
A  certain  Ferguson  led  a  company  of  Irishmen,  who 
"  instantly  m.ingled  with  the  mass  of  the  inhabit- 
ants "  ;  and  Lord  Cardross,  afterwards  Earl  of  Bu- 
chan,  planted  a  somewhat  celebrated  colony  at  Port 
Royal.  He  intended  to  bring  many  more  colonists 
and  found  an  independent  settlement,  but  on  seeing 
that  the  colonists  and  not  the  proprietors  exercised 
the  authority,  he  left  his  people  to  the  capricious 
government  of  the  factions  at  Charles  Town,  while 
he  sought  glory  elsewhere.  By  that  time  West  had 
been  removed, — in  1683, — nominally  for  favouring 
the  popular  party  against  the  proprietors;  but  in 
fact,  it  was  said,  for  his  "  connivance  at  the  barbar- 
ous practice  "  of  Indian  slavery.  Certainly  he  did 
not  suppress  the  kidnapping  which  was  done  mostly 
among  the  Spaniards'  allies ;  nor  did  he  keep  Charles 
Town  from  becoming  a  resort  for  pirates  of  all 
nations,  who  made  their  fortunes  by  attacking  the 
vessels  and  settlements  of  the  Spaniards. 

In  the  next  three  years  the  governor's  office 
changed  hands  six  times.  First  came  Joseph  More- 
ton,  who  had  a  stormy  time  for  less  than  a  year,  not 
only  because  he  was  unpopular,  but  because  the 
Charles  Town  people  were  so  incensed  at  liaving  no 
larger  delegration  than  the  scattered  settlements  of 
Colleton  County,  that  they  themselves  elected  the 
entire  number  of  delegates  who  sat  as  the  parlia- 
ment, supported  by  the  majority  of  the  colony  and 


408  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

by  the  Governor.  Although  the  proprietors  ordered 
them  to  disperse,  they  adjourned  and  reassembled 
as  it  pleased  them  until  the  inhabitants  of  the  other 
counties  became  numerous  enough  to  secure  their 
rights. 

Apparently  the  Council  ousted  ]\Ioreton  and  kept 
West  in  his  old  place  until  the  arrival  of  Governor 
Richard  Kyle.  They  reinstated  their  favourite  once 
more  upon  Kyle's  sudden  death.  But  the  pro- 
prietors made  haste  to  despatch  Governor  Robert 
Quarry,  and  after  that  *'  man  of  marked  ability  and 
good  reputation  was  removed  .  .  .  for  com- 
plicity with  pirates,"  in  which  he  "  actually  gave 
permission  to  two  buccaneer  captains  to  bring  their 
Spanish  prizes  into  the  harbour,"  Moreton  returned 
for  a  few  months.  About  the  same  time  the  much 
talked  of  "  Spanish  invasion  "  suddenly  came  to 
pass.  Three  vessels  landed  a  band  of  soldiers  at 
Port  Royal,  and  "  in  the  most  barbarous  manner  " 
wiped  the  little  settlement  out  of  existence,  allow- 
ing only  a  few  of  the  settlers  to  escape  to  Charles 
Town.  Farther  up  the  coast  the  enemy  fell  upon 
Bear  Bluff,  on  Ediston  River,  near  Charles  Town, 
where  the  suburban  houses  of  Governor  Moreton, 
the  Secretary  of  the  province,  and  many  others  were 
plundered  of  money,  plate,  and  slaves;  while  the 
principal  resident,  Governor  Moreton's  brother,  was 
carried  away  captive.  In  the  height  of  their  success 
a  great  storm  drove  one  of  the  Spaniards'  galleys 
ashore;  upon  which,  "  the  Country  being  by  that 
Time  sufficiently  Alarmed,  they  thought  proper  to 
make  a  Retreat;    but  first    set  fire  to  that   Galley 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,    TWELFTH   COLONY      4O9 

on  which  Mr.  Moreton  was  actually  then  in  chains 
and  most  inhumanly  burnt  in  her."  The  rest  of 
the  fleet  were  off  before  the  colonists  could  attack 
them;  but  four  hundred  men  were  in  arms  at  once 
to  set  out  for  St.  Augustine  and  pay  the  "  Black- 
guards "  back  in  their  own  coin.  When  ready  to 
embark,  the  expedition  was  stopped  by  summary 
orders  from  the  proprietors.  The  charter  rights  of 
the  colonists,  they  said,  permitted  defence,  and 
even  "  pursuit  in  heat  of  victory,  but  not  a  deliber- 
ate making  war  on  the  King  of  Spain's  subjects 
within  his  own  territory."  Inwardly  raging,  the 
colonists  obeyed,  and  received  for  their  consolation 
a  letter  from  their  superiors,  saying,  "  We  are  glad 
you  have  laid  aside  your  project,  as,  had  it  pro- 
ceeded, Moreton,  Godfrey,  and  others  might  have 
answered  it,  perhaps,  with  their  lives."  The  Gover- 
nor was  instructed  to  write  a  "  civil  letter  "  to  the 
commander  at  St.  Augustine,  inquiring  by  what 
authority  he  had  made  the  attacks  upon  the  English 
settlements. 

After  this  stirring  period  of  Moreton's  second 
attempt  at  government,  the  confusion  was  still 
worse  confounded  for  four  years  by  James  Colleton, 
a  brother  of  one  of  the  proprietors.  In  his  first 
effort  to  enforce  the  Constitutions,  he  opened  a 
quarrel  with  the  people  that  soon  extended  into  all 
their  relations.  When  he  tried  to  collect  the  quit- 
rents  on  wild  as  well  as  cultivated  lands,  the  popu- 
lar party  imprisoned  the  Secretary  and  seized  the 
records.  Still  more  resolute  opposition  was  made 
to  the  enforcement  of  the  Acts  of  Trade  and  to  the 


410  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

custom-house  at  Charles  Town,  which  the  proprie- 
tors had  established  in  their  anxiety  to  propitiate 
the  new  King's  jealousy  of  charters.  It  was  upon 
their  charter,  however,  that  the  impetuous  planters 
based  their  defence,  with  the  result,  of  course,  that 
his  Majesty  issued  a  writ  of  quo  luarraiito  against  it. 
The  loyal,  though  disgusted,  proprietors  promptly 
proposed  to  surrender  it,  but  were  spared  by  the 
uprising  which  drove  James  II.  to  France.  At  this 
time,  Mr.  Doyle  says,  the  proprietors  instructed  the 
Governor  not  to  pass  any  act  for  raising  money  ex- 
cept by  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  representatives. 

Thus,  as  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  the  exclusive 
right  of  taxation  was  clearly  conceded  to  the  settlers, 
and  that  at  a  time  when  there  was  no  special  in- 
clination to  treat  them  with  favour."  This  was  by 
no  means  a  signal  of  peace.  Colleton  continued  to 
urge  the  Constitutions,  and  one  parliament  after 
another  to  refuse  them.  At  length,  pretending  to 
fear  an  attack  from  Spaniards  or  Indians,  he  called 
out  the  militia  and  declared  martial  law.     Then  the 

turbulents  "  broke  out  into  a  miniature  copy  of 
the  rebellion  that  had  taken  place  in  England  the 
year  before.  In  the  midst  of  it,  in  1690,  appeared 
Seth  Sothel,  magnificently  proclaiming  himself 
Governor  by  right  of  his  proprietary  interests  and 
aiding  the  people  to  disfranchise  and  banish  Col- 
leton, without  mentioning  his  own  luck  in  finding  so 
congenial  a  way  of  enduring  a  similar  sentence  from 
the  colonists  he  had  outraged  in  Albemarle.  For 
a  little  while  he  enjoyed  great  popularity,  which  he 
used   to   fill   his  pockets  by   all    sorts  of  shameless 


SOUTH   CAROLINA,    TIVELFTII   COLONY      4I  I 

extortion,  till  the  people  resented  it,  and  the  proprie- 
tors, hearing  of  his  actions,  nullified  at  one  stroke 
the  acts  of  his  parliament,  deprived  him  of  all 
authority  in  the  province,  and  threatened  a  royal 
viandaniiis  which  would  compel  him  to  stand  trial  in 
England,  till  he  hid  away  somewhere  in  Albemarle. 

Philip  Ludwell,  the  first  Governor-General  of  the 
whole  province,  ruled  for  a  year, — when  Charles 
Town  "  fairly  swarmed  with  pirates," — and  then 
gave  way  to  Thomas  Smith,  a  "  wise,  sober,  well 
living  planter  of  the  colony."  In  his  time,  in  1693, 
the  cultivation  of  rice  was  introduced,  as  important 
and  interesting  an  experiment  to  South  Carolina  as 
tobacco-raising  had  been  to  Virginia.  The  story  is 
that  an  English  sea-captain,  accidentally  touching 
at  Charles  Town  on  his  way  home  from  Madagascar, 
gave  the  Governor  a  small  quantity  of  rice,  which 
Smith  and  his  friends  found  to  thrive  beyond  any- 
thing they  had  ever  tried.  In  a  few  years  they  had 
enough  for  a  large  exportation,  "  the  best  of  the 
known  world." 

About  this  time  the  proprietors  formally  abolished 
the  Constitutions;  and,  as  knowing  ones  "  writ 
over"  that  "it  was  impossible  to  settle  the  Country, 
except  a  Proprietor  himself  was  sent  over  with  full 
power  to  Heal  their  Grievances,"  they  sent  their 
able  associate.  Friend  Joseph  Archdale.  In  his 
brief  year  of  1695  he  said,  when 

"  every  faction  apply' d  themselves  "  to  him,  "  in  hopes 
of  Relief,"  he  "  appeased  them  with  kind  and  gentle 
Words,"    called    a    parliament    and    appealed    to    their 


412  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

"  serious  rational  observations  "  ;  receiving  seemly  reply. 
But  notwithstanding  "  this  fair  Blossom  in  Season  to 
produce  Peace  and  Tranquility  to  the  Country,  some 
endeavoured  to  sow  Seeds  of  Contention  thereby  to  nip 
the  same;  insomuch  that  they  sat  six  Weeks  under  Civil 
Broils  and  Heats";  although  "in  the  conclusion  all 
matters  ended  amicably." 

He  secured,  among  other  measures,  a 

"  forgiveness  of  arrears  of  quit-rent,  careful  inquiry  into 
cases  of  individual  grievances;  the  selection  of  a  Coun- 
cil from  among  the  citizens  most  trusted  by  the  peo- 
ple; .  .  .  while  his  energy  in  matters  that  required 
a  strong  hand  was  no  less  conspicuous  and  disinter- 
ested." He  worked  for  peace  with  Spaniards  and  In- 
dians, "  yet  he  did  not,  though  a  Quaker,  abate  for  a 
moment  his  attention  to  the  defence  of  the  colony, 
.  .  .  He  exempted  those  of  his  own  faith  from  mili- 
tary service,  provided  they  could  show  that  they  ob- 
jected to  it  from  conviction,  and  not  from  cowardice  ; 
but,  for  himself,  he  looked  carefully  to  every  detail  of 
military  matters,"  and  "  the  militia  was  never  better 
trained." 

Having  accomplished  all  his  objects  to  the 
mutual  benefit  of  Proprietors  and  people,"  he  left 
his  good  work  to  Joseph  Blake,  who  carried  it  on 
for  about  five  years,  until  his  death  in  the  first  year 
of  the  new  century.  A  Dissenter  himself,  he  gave 
support  and  patronage  to  John  Cotton,  son  of  John 
Cotton  of  Boston,  who  came  to  preach  at  Charles 
Town  ;  but  he  also  procured  the  passage  of  an  act 
giving  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  a  year  and  a 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,    TWELFTH   COLONY      413 

house  to  the  AngHcan  clergyman  of  the  town,  and 
freedom  of  worship  to  the  Huguenots  and  to  all 
Christians,  excepting  Papists.  Dissent  was  upheld 
by  a  large  majority  of  the  people,  including  nearly 
all  the  rural  population.  Some  say  it  was  more  a 
matter  of  inherited  tradition  than  belief,  but  Mr. 
Fiske  says  **  most  of  the  South  Carolina  settlers 
had  left  their  homes  in  Europe  for  reasons  con- 
nected with  religion.  .  .  .  Calvinism  was  the 
prevailing  form  of  theology  .  .  .  though  there 
were  some  Lutherans,  and  one  fifth  of  the  people 
may  have  belonged  to  the  Church  of  England." 
The  true  sons  of  South  Carolina  had  grown  up  on 
their  isolated  plantations  without  churches  or  even 
schools,  but  with  a  deep-seated  prejudice,  it  has 
been  said,  that  no  Church  at  all  was  better  than  the 
Church  of  England.  A  none  too  creditable  apostle 
of  the  Establishment,  Nicholas  Trott,  was  sent  out 
as  the  proprietary  agent  and  chief-justice,  and 
stamped  his  impress  upon  many  years  of  the 
colony's  history.  It  should  be  remembered  with 
gratitude  that  in  his  busy  life  he  found  time  to  col- 
lect and  publish  the  laws  of  the  colony  and  such 
ecclesiastical  laws  as  there  were  in  divers  other  set- 
tlements. 

In  Blake's  time  a  new  day  dawned  for  the  pirates, 
whose  gold  and  silver  and  terrible  name  had  bought 
them  whatever  they  wanted  in  Charles  Town  for 
thirty  years.  Now  the  colonists  had  cargoes  of  rice 
to  be  attacked ;  cargoes  for  which  they  began  at 
length  to  have  credit  in  England,  and  to  see  honest 
money  from  Holland,  Hamburg,  Bremen,  Sweden. 


414  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Denmark,  and  Portugal.  Besides,  South  Carolina 
morals  had  been  strengthened  by  large  numbers  of 
upright  English  Dissenters  and  French  Huguenots. 
So,  when  the  bold  sea-thieves  made  free  with  the 
town,  they  were  hanged  on  the  enormous  gallows 
at  Execution  Dock.  The  fraternity  of  the  black 
flag,  seeing  a  dozen  or  more  of  their  members 
swinging  in  their  heavy  chains,  began  to  give  the 
port  a  wide  berth. 

On  Governor  Blake's  death  in  1701,  when  More- 
ton  was  elected  to  the  vacancy  once  more,  Trott, 
with  James  Moore,  "an  ambitious  and  unscrupulous" 
politician,  suddenly  brought  to  the  fore  a  new  party 
of  "greedy,  self-seeking  adventurers  "  who  used 
"  the  proprietary  authority  as  a  pretext  and  instru- 
ment for  their  own  ends. "  Moore  forced  the  Council 
to  annul  the  election,  put  himself  in  Moreton's  place, 
and  packed  both  the  Council  aiijd  the  Assembly 
"  with  his  own  creatures,"  whom  he  rewarded  by 
certain  profits  on  kidnapping  and  selling  Indians  to 
the  West  Indies.  The  proprietors  heard  of  it  and 
denounced  him,  but  did  not  stop  the  practice,  for 
as  Queen  Anne's  war  over  the  Spanish  Succession 
had  begun,  Moore  raised  a  force  and  led  it  to  the 
gate  of  St.  Augustine,  carrying  border  fighting  to  a 
pitch  never  known  before.  Spaniards  and  Apa- 
lachee  Indians  fought  on  one  side.  Creeks  and 
Carolinians  on  the  other.  Moore  was  invariably 
successful  in  these  forays,  returning  from  laying 
waste  one  little  Indian  town  after  another  like  a 
barbaric  chief  of  old,  a  herd  of  slaves  before  him, 
his  train  laden   with  spoils  behind.      But  the  colony 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,     TIVELF77/   COLON V      415 

suffered.  The  men  were  called  away  from  their 
affairs  on  military  duty,  and  large  sums  of  money 
were  levied  for  the  building  and  maintaining  of 
frontier  forts,  even  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Chattahoochee,  the  present  boundary  of  the  State 
of  Florida.  The  colony  then  issued  its  first  paper 
currency  ;  five  thousand  planters  assumed  a  public 
debt  of  about  six  thousand  pounds,  a  responsibility 
that  in  the  minds  of  many  of  them  was  in  no  way 
offset  by  the  extension  of  their  wild  and  almost 
pathless  frontier.  At  length,  when  a  demand  was 
made  to  settle  the  bills  for  the  attack  on  St.  Au^us- 
tine,  Charles  Town  was  thrown  into  an  uproar  by  a 
general  riot  in  which  the  Governor's  partisans  were 
guilty  of  brutal  outrages. 

In  1703,  the  proprietors  appointed  as  Governor 
Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson,  who  was  both  able  and 
popular,  though  "  a  precious  bigot  "  for  the  Estab- 
lishment;  but  Moore  was  retained  as  attorney- 
general,  and  Trott  was  still  chief-justice.  They 
manipulated  the  election  to  suit  themselves,  and 
enacted  in  the  next  parliament  that  all  who  blas- 
phemed the  Trinity  or  questioned  the  divine  author- 
ity of  the  Bible  should  forfeit  their  civil  rights  in 
the  colony  and  be  condemned  to  three  years'  im- 
prisonment. This  failing  to  crush  the  popular 
party,  another  act  was  passed,  which  practically 
disfranchised  every  Dissenter  and  left  the  whole 
colony  at  the  mercy  of  the  little  self-seeking  Church 
party.  In  the  outburst  of  complaints  that  naturally 
followed,  Churchmen  were  strengthened  under  the 
influence  of  Lord  Granville,  then  Palatine.    But  the 


4l6  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

powerful  Archdale  supported  the  Dissenters.  He 
said  that  Johnson  "  by  a  Chimical  Wit,  Zeal  and 
Art,  transmuted  or  turn'd  this  Civil  Difference  into 
a  Religious  Controversy." 

Three  years  later  the  Spaniards  began  vigorous 
retaliation  against  the  capital  itself.  In  the  early 
autumn  of  1706,  a  fleet  of  Spaniards  and  French- 
men under  Captain  Le  Feboure  entered  the  har- 
bour and  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  city. 
This  was  refused  ;  and  the  people,  though  weakened 
by  an  epidemic  of  yellow  fever, — the  first  in  the 
colony, — stoutly  held  out  till  with  the  combined 
assistance  of  the  neighbouring  settlements  and  the 
prowess  of  a  small  fleet  under  Colonel  Rhett,  the 
enemy  were  beaten  off,  leaving  two  hundred  and 
thirty  prisoners  behind  them. 

The  people  had  forgotten  their  dissensions  in  the 
face  of  danger ;  and  when  Governor  Johnson  thanked 
them  for  their  noble  conduct,  they  returned  the 
compliment  by  a  gift  of  land.  But  the  fear  of  being 
forced  into  the  communion  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land soon  revived.  An  appeal  from  the  proprietors 
was  carried  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the  charter 
would  probably  have  been  annulled  but  for  the  death 
of  Granville  and  the  succession  to  his  place  of  the 
conciliatory  Earl  of  Craven,  under  whom  all  the 
Dissenters'  rights  were  restored. 

Upon  this  great  victory  for  the  planters,  Johnson 
was  succeeded  by  Lord  Craven's  brother,  Charles 
Craven,  in  whose  six  years'  term,  Mr.  Doyle  says, 
for  the  first  time  the  colony  had  ''  a  Governor  en- 
dowed with  wisdom  and  public  spirit,  representing 


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SOUTH   CAROLINA,    TWELFTH    COLONY       419 

the  views  and  interests  of  the  proprietors,  yet  trusted 
and  beloved  by  the  people,  and  even  watching  over 
their  interests  with  sedulous  care. ' '  Under  him  the 
two  parties  became  fairly  balanced,  and  all  showed 
a  new  ambition  for  the  province.  The  parliament 
voted  ;^i5oo  for  a  State  House  and  other  im- 
provements were  made  at  Charles  Town.  Although 
the  British  Parliament  authorised  the  laying  out  of 
parishes  and  the  raising  of  money  towards  the 
building  of  churches  and  the  permanent  endowment 
of  the  clergy,  the  ministers  were  not  appointed  by 
superior  powers,  but  elected  by  their  congregations 
after  the  custom  of  Dissenters.  These  clergymen 
were  high-minded,  educated,  and  patriotic,  though 
for  many  years  there  were  few  of  them.  Then, 
with  the  encouragement  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  a  private  grammar 
school,  in  which  Latin  and  Greek  were  taught,  was 
founded  and  endowed  at  Charles  Town  in  171 2.  In 
the  provision  made  for  the  master,  slaves  are  men- 
tioned as  a  part  of  his  chattels. 

While  the  most  important  impulse  to  prosperity 
was  started  in  Craven's  wise  administration,  the 
colony  then  had  its  greatest  Indian  troubles.  After 
the  Yamassees  under  Moore  had  helped  to  subdue 
the  Tuscaroras  in  North  Carolina,  they  suddenly 
resolved  to  do  what  they  had  prevented  the  Tusca- 
roras from  doing  —  wipe  out  every  white  settle- 
ment south  of  Virginia.  The  colony's  relations  with 
the  Indians,  excepting  a  few  tribes  allied  to  the 
Spaniards,  were  so  friendly  that  it  had  become  the 
centre  of  a  traffic  extending  from  Cape  Fear  to  beyond 


420  THE    TIIIRTEEX    COLONIES 

the  Savannah,  from  the  Mobile  to  the  Natches  ; 
and  the  storehouses  of  the  traders  were  scattered  far 
and  wide  among  the  "  tame  and  peaceable  people." 
The  traders  travelled  on  foot  sometimes  a  thousand 
miles  into  the  Indian  country  for  the  skins  of  bear, 
beaver,  wildcat,  deer,  fox,  and  raccoon.  They 
had  become  deeply  in  debt  to  the  Yamassees,  and 
resented  being  called  upon  to  settle  their  accounts. 
The  savages'  patience  at  length  gave  out.  Their 
"  bloody  stick,"  or  call  to  arms,  was  passed  from 
village  to  village  from  the  Cape  Fear  to  the  St. 
Johns.  The  Creeks  and  the  Uchees  united  with 
them  and  on  Good  Friday  of  171 5  the  colony 
was  suddenly  attacked  in  three  places  and  many 
colonists  were  massacred.  One  family  alone  had 
warning  and  escaped.  About  two  hundred  set- 
tlers perished  at  the  first  onset.  Governor  Craven 
promptly  called  out  the  militia  and  armed  some 
four  hundred  slaves.  He  led  a  force  to  meet  the 
chief  attack,  while  sending  other  expeditions  to 
oppose  the  invasion  at  several  points.  But  tribe 
after  tribe  rose  against  him  ;  the  forest  poured  forth 
its  warriors  till  perhaps  nearly  ten  thousand  were  in 
the  field.  For  a  few  days  there  were  fears  for  Charles 
Town,  whither  Craven  had  hastily  swept  all  the  in- 
habitants of  the  outlying  settlements,  with  their 
stores  and  goods.  New  York  sent  military  sup- 
plies; the  North  Carolinians  did  what  little  they 
could;  some  very  efficient  aid  came  from  Virginia, 
and  from  Spotswood  personally,  who  also  secured  a 
small  band  of  Indian  allies.  Craven's  militia  was 
especially  well-drilled    for   a  colonial   force  of   that 


SOUTH   CAROLINA,     TWELFTH   COLONY      42 1 

time,  and  when  tliey  met  the  enemy  nccir  Port 
Royal  in  a  general  fight,  they  won  a  complete  vic- 
tory, and  drove  the  redskins  across  the  Florida 
border,  there  to  be  made  welcome  by  the  Spaniards, 
with  whom  they  had  been  allied  in  the  early  days 
of  Carolina.  The  war  was  soon  over,  and  the  fron- 
tier was  immediately  picketed  by  a  line  of  rangers, 
after  the  policy  which  experience  had  taught  the 
Virginians  some  thirty  years  before.  "  And  the 
colony,  though  poorer  by  more  than  four  hundred 
settlers  and  many  of  its  pioneer  settlements,  re- 
mained in  quiet  possession  of  the  broad  territory 
that  the  fatuity  of  the  savage  rather  than  the 
prowess  of  the  English  had  put  in  their  hands."  It 
was  estimated  that  the  colony  lost  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds  through  this  brief  war,  besides  in- 
curring a  debt  in  bills  of  credit  of  nearly  equal 
amount. 

The  proprietors  had  given  the  people  almost  no 
assistance;  nor  would  they  provide  any  efficient 
measures  for  protecting  them  against  the  scalping- 
parties  from  Florida  that  continued  to  harass  the 
frontier.  But  when  settlers  began  to  occupy  the 
lands  that  had  been  vacated  by  the  Yamassees,  they 
made  haste  to  claim  the  territory  for  the  province, 
to  the  ruin  of  hundreds  of  the  immigrants  who  were 
unable  to  meet  the  demands  for  rent  and  purchase 
money.  In  this  desperate  situation  the  colony  was 
again  attacked  by  pirates.  In  the  early  summer  of 
1718,  after  Craven's  place  had  been  taken  by  Robert 
Johnson,  son  of  Sir  Nathaniel,  the  wicked  Black- 
beard,  tired  of  the  reform  he  had  promised  in  North 


422  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Carolina,  blockaded  Charles  Town  Harbour  with  his 
big  frigate  of  forty  guns  and  three  sloops,  carrying 
over  four  hundred  of  his  desperadoes.  They  cap- 
tured perhaps  ten  plucky  sail  that  came  out  of  the 
harbour;  and  then  Blackbeard  sent  a  list  of  food, 
drugs,  and  other  things  that  he  wanted,  with  a  mes- 
sage that  if  they  were  not  forthcoming  within  forty- 
eight  hours,  the  Governor  would  receive  the  heads 
of  all  the  pirates'  prisoners,  several  of  whom  were 
important  men  of  the  colony  captured  on  their  way 
to  England.  The  supplies  were  furnished  in  all 
haste;  the  prisoners  were  returned,  one  of  them  re- 
lieved of  some  six  thousand  dollars  in  money,  all 
stripped  even  of  their  clothes.  Blackbeard  soon 
afterward  met  his  fate  in  Pamlico  Sound.  A  few 
months  later,  in  the  summer  of  1718,  this  colony  or- 
ganised an  expedition  to  capture  another  desperate 
gang;  and  Colonel  William  Rhett  covered  himself 
with  glory  by  bringing  the  famous  Major  Stede 
Bonnett  and  his  desperadoes  to  Execution  Dock. 
By  this  and  other  captures  the  coast  was  cleared 
after  a  few  years. 

Again  no  help  was  received  from  the  proprietors; 
the  expense  was  met  by  a  new  issue  of  eight  thou- 
sand pounds  in  bills  of  credit,  and  the  people  went 
through  the  experience  many  times  repeated  in  the 
history  of  our  country.  Prices  rose,  debtors  gained, 
while  creditors  and  men  on  fixed  salaries  lost. 
English  merchants,  who  comprised  most  of  the 
creditors,  ordered  their  agents  to  ship  them  any 
goods  they  could  get  from  the  planters  indebted  to 
them.     The  proprietors,   in  obedience  to  an  Order 


SOUTH   CAROLINA,    TWELFTH   COLONY      423 

in  Council,  voted  an  impost  duty  on  negroes  and 
English  goods,  besides  raising  their  rents  fourfold 
to  make  good  their  incomes,  and  disallowing  some 
of  the  colonists'  revenue  laws.  They  abruptly  in- 
creased the  number  of  councillors,  appointing  new- 
comers to  outweigh  the  members  who  by  long 
residence  had  become  attached  to  the  interests  of 
the  colony.  At  the  next  election  not  one  man 
favourable  to  the  proprietors  was  returned.  The 
members-elect,  at  private  meetings,  resolved  to 
have  no  more  to  do  with  them,  and  called  upon  the 
people  to  enter  into  an  '*  association  to  stand  by 
their  rights  and  privileges."  They  named  their 
grievances  in  a  petition  to  the  proprietors;  and 
when,  after  patient  waiting,  they  found  that  it 
received  no  attention,  they  indignantly  made  up 
their  minds  to  transfer  their  allegiance  to  the 
Crown.  A  secret  association  was  formed,  chiefly 
through  the  agency  of  Alexander  Skene,  a  planter 
from  Barbadoes,  and  one  day  surprised  the  Gov- 
ernor, ignorant  even  of  its  existence,  with  the  re- 
quest that  he  should  renounce  the  authority  of  the 
proprietors  and  declare  himself  to  hold  office  under 
the  Crown.  Johnson  refused,  and  summoned  a 
parliament,  which,  however,  in  November,  17 19, 
openly  passed  a  resolution  "  to  have  no  regard  to 
the  officers  of  the  proprietaries  or  to  their  adminis- 
tration," and  petitioned  the  Governor  "  to  hold  the 
reins  of  government  for  the  King."  Again  he  re- 
fused, although  none  of  his  associates  were  with 
him.  Meantime,  according  to  the  custom,  he  had 
called  for  a  public  review  of  the  militia,  but  revoked 


424  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

the  order  when  he  saw  the  temper  of  the  people. 
When  the  day  came  (December  21,  17 19),  to  his 
amazement,  he  saw  town  and  harbour  gay  with 
bunting.  Salutes  were  fired,  and  the  militia  pa- 
raded, armed  and  in  full  uniform.  His  Excellency 
demanded  of  Colonel  Paris  under  what  authority  he 
acted,  and  was  answered,  "  By  the  authority  of  the 
Convention."  The  Governor  ordered  them  to  dis- 
perse. The  Colonel  replied,  "  The  militia  of  South 
Carolina  obeys  the  Convention."  Then  the  Gov- 
ernor was  told  that  if  he  would  not  transfer  the 
government,  it  must  be  transferred  without  him. 

Johnson,  it  is  said,  then  rushed  about  among  the 
crowd,  remonstrating  with  man  after  man,  and 
almost  laying  hands  on  them  in  his  agitation.  But 
no  blood  was  shed.  After  he  had  again  refused  to 
join  them,  the  Convention,  in  the  name  of  the 
Crown,  appointed  the  old  raiding  hero,  Moore,  as 
Governor,  swore  in  a  Council  of  other  officers,  and 
sent  an  agent  to  England  to  offer  their  submission, 
which  George  I.  showed  no  hesitation  in  accepting. 
The  proprietors  were  told  that  they  had  forfeited 
their  charter. 

Pending  investigation,  the  King  gave  the  people 
as  their  Governor  for  the  next  four  years  the  ener- 
getic and  experienced  Francis  Nicholson,  a  man 
whose  policy  was  always  to  heal  and  to  compose, 
to  understand  the  likes  and  dislikes  of  the  people, 
and  to  penetrate  further  than  most  of  his  class  into 
the  needs  confronting  them.  He  made  the  fore- 
most leaders  of  the  rebellion  president  of  the  Coun- 
cil and  chief- justice,  and  allowed  the  parliament  to 


SOUTH  CAROLINA,    TWELF7II  COLONY      425 

confirm  the  proceedings  of  the  revolution.  He  dis- 
charged all  suits  for  alleged  wrongs  during  the  late 
disturbances,  regulated  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice, reduced  official  fees,  and  established  the  sys- 
tem of  local  elections,  the  rejection  of  which  by  the 
proprietors  had  been  the  immediate  cause  of  re- 
volt. The  parliament  laid  an  impost  for  revenue  on 
liquors  and  certain  other  articles,  and  on  all  slaves 
imported,  entrusting  the  collection  to  a  treasurer  of 
their  own  appointment ;  but  they  declined  to  vote 
salaries  except  from  year  to  year.  Indeed,  friendly 
as  Nicholson  was  to  their  interests,  he  lamented  the 
daily  growth  of  the  "  spirit  of  the  commonwealth 
maxims  both  in  Church  and  State,"  charging  it 
partly  to  the  influence  of  the  New  Englanders  who 
had  a  lively  trade  with  Charles  Town. 

South  Carolina  then  stood  seventh  in  population; 
but  it  had  only  six  thousand  white  persons,  the 
smallest  number  in  any  of  the  colonies,  and  ten 
thousand  five  hundred  blacks,  the  largest  number 
of  any  colony  except  Virginia.  There  was  not 
a  public  school;  and,  it  has  been  said,  no  other  col- 
ony in  America  was  so  destitute  of  churches  and 
so  wanting  in  religious  feeling  and  responsibility. 
Nicholson  put  his  hand  in  his  own  pocket  gener- 
ously while  he  aroused  the  planters  to  supply  these 
deficiencies;  but  it  was  a  heavy  task,  and  in  1725 
he  returned  to  England,  aged  with  nearly  a  quar- 
ter-century of  devoted  and  often  thankless  labours 
among  the  American  colonists. 

For  the  next  three  or  four  years,  while  the  pro- 
prietors contended  with  the  Crown  for  the  appoint- 


426  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

merit  of  his  successor,  the  colony  struggled  on  in 
virtual  but  quarrelsome  independence,  until  the 
President  of  the  Council  in  despair  wrote  to  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle  that  "  the  government  was 
reduced  to  the  lowest  extremity,"  "  the  royal 
prerogative  was  openly  trampled  on,"  and  the 
Council  insulted  "  by  the  delegates  within  doors, 
and  the  tumult  without."  Two  years  later  the 
King  purchased  the  province.  The  proprietors 
then  were  Henry,  Duke  of  Beaufort,  and  his  brother 
Lord  Charles  Somerset;  Lord  Craven;  Lord  Car- 
teret, who  refused  to  sell  his  share;  John  Cotton, 
the  heirs  of  Sir  John  Colleton,  James  and  Henry 
Bertie,  Mary  Dawson,  and  Elizabeth  ]\Ioore. 
j\lr.  Doyle  says : 

"  The  overthrow  of  the  Proprietary  system  in  South 
Carolina  is  a  distinct  step  in  the  process  whereby  the 
various  American  colonists  were  trained  in  habits  of  self- 
government  and  fitted  for  the  great  struggle  of  fifty  years 
later.  Not  unimportant  in  itself  ...  it  was  far 
more  important  for  the  temper  which  it  developed  and 
confirmed." 


CHAPTER    XVI 

THE    GREATEST   SLAVE-HOLDING   PROVINCE 

FOR  the  half-century  of  its  existence  as  a  royal 
province,  South  Carolina  never  was  distin- 
guished for  obedience  to  the  authority  it  had  itself 
invoked.  It  "used  every  method  of  encroaching  on 
the  prerogative  .  .  .  and  the  small  quit-rents  of  the 
King  could  never  be  rigorously  exacted."  During 
that  period  it  had  ten  changes  in  the  governor's 
chair;  most  of  the  time  the  colonists'  own  leaders 
were  "  acting  "  executives.  Such  celebrity  as  this 
province  attained  was  chiefly  for  its  patriotic  aris- 
tocracy of  educated  and  brilliant  families,  whose 
great  wealth  was  created  by  the  largest  holdings  of 
negro  slaves  in  the  colonies.  This  seems  a  strange 
growth  from  the  poor  and  ill-regulated  communities 
to  which,  in  1729,  George  11.  sent  back  the  propri- 
etors' staunch  representative,  Robert  Johnson,  for 
the  first  four  years  of  Crown  government.  With 
him  came  a  present  of  munitions  of  war,  orders  for 
the  remission  of  the  arrears  of  quit-rents,  and  a  plan 
for  encouraging  settlement  by  free  gifts  of  land  on 
all  the  chief  rivers  —  the  plan  under  which  Purys- 

427 


428  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

burg,  the  first  town  on  the  Savannah,  was  settled 
by  Swiss  immigrants.  But  the  House,  strength- 
ened by  the  example  of  Massachusetts,  still  refused 
to  assure  a  fixed  salary.  Johnson  said  he  could  not 
secure  ''  a  fair  rent-roll  by  any  means."  In  1733, 
there  was  great  enthusiasm  over  the  day's  visit  at 
Charles  Town  or  Charleston  and  the  landing  at 
Beaufort  of  General  James  Oglethorpe,  with  his 
colony  for  the  province  of  Georgia,  set  off  upon  the 
frontier  which  South  Carolina  had  disputed  with 
the  Spaniards  for  three  quarters  of  a  century. 
William  Bull,  President  of  the  Council,  led  many 
of  the  people  in  the  "  universal  zeal  for  assisting 
its  new  alley  and  bulwarke. " 

Johnson  died  in  office,  in  1735;  as  did  also 
Thomas  Broughton,  his  successor,  in  whose  time 
the  Parliament  established  a  fund  for  the  aid  of 
''  poor  Protestants  who  shall  arrive  in  the  Province 
and  settle  in  the  new  townships." 

For  the  next  six  years,  the  reins  of  government 
were  in  the  able  hands  of  William  Bull.  What 
share  the  colony  had  in  the  war  with  Spain  was 
taken  under  the  greatly  admired  Oglethorpe,  who 
commanded  the  militia  of  this  province  as  well  as 
his  own,  until  sympathy  with  the  demand  for  slaves 
in  Georgia  raised  a  shameful  cabal  against  him. 
About  the  same  time,  in  1740,  occurred  the  burn- 
ing of  Charleston,  and  a  general  flight  of  negroes 
to  Florida.  The  slaves  of  the  province  had  long 
been  in  the  habit  of  escaping  to  the  Spaniards, 
who  not  only  refused  to  return  them  to  their  own- 
ers, but   organised   them   into   military  companies, 


GREATEST  SLAVE-HOLDING  PROVLWCE      429 

giving  their  officers  the  same  rank  and  uniforms  as 
the  regular  Spanish  soldiers.  By  a  prearranged 
plan,  instigated,  some  think,  by  the  Spaniards,  the 
plantation  hands  at  Stono  Inlet,  under  a  leader 
called  Cato,  rose  against  the  whites,  killing  men, 
women,  and  children.  Then  they  began  to  move 
down  the  country,  gathering  numbers  as  they 
went,  in  the  direction  of  St.  Augustine.  The  first 
alarm  reached  Wilton  while  the  white  people  were 
at  church;  but  as  men  went  scarcely  anywhere  un- 
armed in  those  rough  days,  a  strong  force  was  ready 
on  the  instant  to  ride  with  Captain  Bee  and  track 
the  great  unorganised  host  to  a  large  field,  where 
they  were  easily  surrounded  in  the  midst  of  a 
drunken  revel.  Some  were  killed,  many  taken  pris- 
oners, and  the  rest  scattered.  Orders  were  issued 
for  the  arrest  of  fugitives  and  of  Spanish  emissaries 
found  in  the  province,  and  troops  were  detailed  to 
watch  the  frontier.  The  whole  insurrection  was 
crushed  quickly,  but  the  terror  it  had  inspired  was 
not  soon  forgotten. 

The  burning  of  Charleston  was  a  misfortune  en- 
tailing benefits.  The  shabby  old  village,  so  de- 
stroyed, was  rebuilt  with  wealth  and  taste  at  the 
beginning  of  this  new,  prosperous  era  of  the  colony. 
It  became  the  commercial  as  well  as  the  political 
capital.  Ship-masters  did  not  go  directly  to  the 
landings  of  the  plantations,  as  in  other  Southern 
Colonies,  but  were  obliged  to  enter  and  clear  at 
Charleston.     A  writer  of  the  day  says: 

"  They  have  a  considerable  trade,  both  to  Europe 
and  the  West  Indies,  whereby  they  become  rich  and  are 


430  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

supplied  with  all  things  necessary  for  trade  and  genteel 
living  which  several  other  places  fall  short  of.  Their 
cohabiting  in  a  town  had  drawn  to  them  ingenious  people 
of  most  sciences,  whereby  they  have  tutors  amongst  them 
that  educate  their  youth  a  la  mode. ' ' 

Many  cattle  were  shipped  to  the  West  Indies, 
besides  corn  and  oak  staves.  Pine  masts,  boards, 
and  lumber  were  sent  to  England,  with  tar  and  tur- 
pentine, on  which  there  was  a  bounty.  The  trade  in 
peltries  also  increased  year  by  year;  and  silk,  flax, 
hemp,  tobacco,  olives,  and  oranges  were  cultivated. 
But  nothing  yielded  such  great  prosperity  as  rice. 
It  was  not  subject  to  the  severity  of  the  mother 
country's  Navigation  Laws,  and  the  plantations  had 
so  increased  that  by  1740  it  added  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds  a  year  to  the  wealth  of  the  colony. 
Next  to  it  came  indigo,  which  also  was  encouraged 
by  a  bounty  from  the  British  Parliament.  It  re- 
quired less  capital  than  rice,  and  throve  on  land 
where  that  staple  would  not  grow.  There  were  no 
manufactures  and  practically  no  illicit  trade  to  make 
the  British  merchant  jealous;  and  he  sent  his  pro- 
ducts to  Carolina,  even  "  burdened  with  a  tax,  at 
less  cost  than    .    .    .    to  the  consumer  in  London." 

The  cream  of  this  prosperity  was  skimmed  at 
Charleston.  There  the  masters  of  the  great  planta- 
tions lived  with  their  families  in  magnificent  man- 
sions, patronising  music  and  art,  theatres  and  balls, 
giving  dinner-parties,  and  developing  the  most  cul- 
tivated and  brilliant  society  of  the  South,  perhaps 
of  the  whole  country.      The  leaders  were  men  who 


GREATEST  SLAVE-IIOLDI  i\C  PKOVIXCE       43  I 

gave  their  leisure  to  learning,  to  manly  accomplish- 
ments, and  to  the  service  of  the  government,  "  dis- 
daining payment  "  ;  men  who,  if  they  strengthened 
the  prejudices  of  race,  did  so  under  some  especially 
high  standards.  But  scarcely  anyone  now  denies 
that  the  means  by  which  their  wealth  was  made  was 
a  great  blot  on  their  scutcheon.  The  South  Caro- 
lina planter  of  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
seldom  was  a  patriarch  living  among  the  "  be- 
nicfhted  children  of  Ham  "  who  worked  for  him.  He 
lived  at  Charleston  or  some  other  town,  often  far 
from  his  estates,  visiting  them  on  horseback  but  once 
or  twice  a  year.  The  estates  for  the  raising  of  rice 
or  indigo  were  wholly  in  charge  of  overseers  of  such 
fibre  as  lash  in  hand  could  compel  exhausting  labour 
in  malarious  ditches  from  great  gangs  of  "  Heathen 
Africans,"  usually  freshly  imported,  and  still  in  wild 
resentment  over  their  kidnapping  and  transporta- 
tion. The  cultivation  of  both  rice  and  indigo 
was  a  deadly  occupation;  but  a  strapping  negro 
could  earn  more  than  his  price  — then  about  forty 
pounds  —  within  a  year.     As  Mr.  Fiske  says : 

"  It  was  actually  more  profitable  to  work  him  to  death 
than  to  take  care  of  him,"  and  "  assuming,  then,  that 
human  nature  in  South  Carolina  was  neither  better  nor 
worse  than  in  other  parts  of  the  civilised  world,"  .  .  . 
it  is  easy  to  see  that  "  diminutions  in  their  numbers,  due 
to  whatever  cause,  were  [easily]  repaired  by 
fresh  importations  from  Africa." 

A  company  of  British  soldiers  was  in  the  province, 
readv  to  meet  any  insurrection,  but  no  second  one 


432  THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

ever  arose.  With  ev^ery  effort  to  avoid  exaggera- 
tion, this  is  not  a  part  of  the  story  that  makes  pleas- 
ant reading.  Mr.  Doyle  characterises  South  Carolina 
as  "  the  very  type  of  a  slave-holding  aristocracy  "  ; 
adding,  '*  If  slavery  had  been  confined  to  Virginia 
and  Maryland,  it  might  have  died  out  in  the  eight- 
eenth centuiy,  crushed  beneath  the  weight  of  its 
moral  and  economical  shortcomings.  In  Carolina  it 
became  a  corner-stone  of  the  political  system,  a 
motive  power  in  the  world's  history." 

Hildreth  compares  the  luxury  of  the  rice-growers 
to  that  of 

"  the  sugar  planters  of  the  West  Indies,  with  whom  in- 
deed they  had  much  more  afifinity  than  with  the  colonists 
of  the  north.  The  children  of  the  wealthy  class  were 
sent  to  England  to  be  educated;  and  a  new  generation 
began  to  be  raised  up,  including  several  young  men  of 
superior  talents  and  accomplishments." 

It  is  an  interesting  paradox  that  this  aristocratic 
province  was  uniformly  governed  by  democratic  in- 
stitutions. The  parishes,  into  which  the  country 
had  been  laid  off  after  the  establishment  of  the 
Church  of  England,  provided,  Mr.  Fiske  declares,  a 

"  system  of  local  self-governnient  .  .  .  much  the 
same  as  ...  it  existed  in  England,"  and  with 
"  many  of  the  functions  which  in  New  England  were 
performed  by  the  town  meeting, — the  superintendence 
of  the  poor,  the  maintenance  of  roads,  the  election  of 
representatives  to  the  Commons  House  of  Assembly, 
and  the  assessment  of  local  taxes.  .  .  .  The  vestry- 
men    .     .     .     elected  yearly  by  all  tlie  taxpayers  of  the 


GREATEST  SLAVE-HOLDING  PROVINCE       433 

parish     .     .     .     were  analogous  to  the  selectmen  of  New 
England." 

Governor  James  Glen,  who  began  his  thirteen 
years*  term  in  1743,  wrote: 

"  Here  levelling  principles  prevail;  the  frame  of  the 
civil  government  is  unhinged;  a  governor  if  he  would  be 
idolised,  must  betray  his  trust;  the  people  have  got  the 
whole  administration  in  their  hands;  the  election  of 
members  to  the  assembly  is  by  ballot;  not  civil  posts 
only,  but  all  ecclesiastical  preferments,  are  in  the  dis- 
posal or  election  of  the  people;  to  preserve  the  depend- 
ence of  America  in  general,  the  constitution  must  be 
new  modelled." 

Glen  secured  from  the  Crown  two  more  military 
companies,  making  three  in  this  province,  which 
with  the  four  in  New  York  then  constituted  the 
British  standing  army  in  North  America. 

When  the  last  French  and  Indian  War  threatened 
this  province,  far  as  it  was  from  the  troubles  of  the 
Ohio  Valley,  it  was  one  of  the  most  eager  for  con- 
nections with  the  other  colonies.  Delegates  made 
the  long  journey  from  Charleston  to  Albany,  New 
York,  in  July,  1754,  and  took  part  in  the  great  alli- 
ance then  made  with  the  Six  Nations  and  their  con- 
federates. At  home.  Glen  obtained,  by  treaty  with 
the  Cherokees,  an  extensive  cession  of  land  in  the 
middle  and  upper  part  of  the  province;  and  forts 
were  built  on  the  Tennessee  near  Tellico,  at  the 
headwaters  of  that  river  and  also  of  the  Savannah, 
near  the  chief  village  of  the  Lower  Cherokees.  But 
it  was  almost  impossible  to  raise  militia  to  garrison 


434  'J'^^^   THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

even  these  few  posts,  which  were  far  from  enough. 
After  Glen  was  superseded  by  Governor  WilHam 
Lyttelton,  a  cadet  of  the  noble  family  of  that  name, 
the  parliament  agreed  to  spend  money  for  further 
defence.  Thanks  to  the  arrival  of  half  a  battalion 
of  Royal  Americans  and  troops  from  North  Carolina 
and  Virginia,  the  forts  were  garrisoned  ;  and  except- 
ing some  small  frays  with  the  Cherokees,  this  pro- 
vince was  untouched  by  the  bitter  warfare  in  the 
northerly  parts  of  the  country. 

In  1760,  Lyttelton's  place  was  taken  by  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, Dr.  William  Bull,  son  of  the  hon- 
oured President  of  the  Council.  The  first  native 
American,  it  is  said,  to  obtain  a  medical  degree, 
Bull  was  a  graduate  of  Leyden,  then  the  most  dis- 
tinguished school  of  medicine  in  Europe,  and  was 
a  man  of  character  and  talents.  As  Lieutenant- 
Governor  he  remained  at  the  head  of  South  Caro- 
lina, excepting  for  short  intervals,  until  it  ceased  to 
be  a  British  province.  In  the  first  year  of  this  ad- 
ministration, a  bill  was  passed  by  the  parliament  to 
restrict  the  importation  of  negroes,  but  was  rebuked 
so  severely  by  the  English  authorities  that  it  was 
dropped.  The  sentiment  expressed  by  the  Earl  of 
Dartmouth  fifteen  years  later  was  already  strong  in 
England:  "  We  cannot  allow  the  colonies  to  check 
or  discourage  in  any  degree,  a  traffic  so  beneficial 
to  the  nation."  This  difference,  and  the  misbe- 
haviour of  Major-General  Grant  and  other  British 
officers  in  connection  with  the  invasion  and  seizure 
of  the  Tennessee  Valley,  helped  to  alienate  the  affec- 
tion of  South  Carolina, — never  too  ardent, — from  the 


GREATEST   SLAVE-HOLDIXG  TROVINCE       435 

mother  country.  Hard  feeling  was  eased  somewhat 
when  rice,  though  an  enumerated  article,  was  al- 
lowed to  go  directly  to  any  part  of  America  south 
of  Carolina  and  Georgia,  on  payment  of  a  half- 
subsidy,  so  that  broken  and  inferior  rice  could  be 
sold  as  food  for  negroes. 

But  this  did  not  lessen  the  alarm  aroused  by  the 
fact  that  the  province  had  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  negroes  and  only  about  one  quarter  as 
many  white  people  —  not  enough  freemen,  as  the 
late  war  had  shown,  to  provide  ordinary  defences. 
A  bounty  and  other  encouragements  were  offered  to 
free  white  labourers ;  and  in  a  few  years  the  northern 
districts  were  rapidly  settled  by  small  bodies  of  Irisli 
and  Germans,  and  many  New  Englanders;  not  an 
unalloyed  blessing,  as  time  proved. 

This  province  was  one  of  the  most  vigorously  re- 
sentful of  the  Stamp  Act.  The  parliament  embodied 
part  of  the  famous  New  York  pamphlet  in  their  in- 
structions to  their  agent  in  England.  Massachusetts' 
call  for  a  congress  was  declared  to  be  "  founded 
upon  undeniable  constitutional  principles."  The 
patriotic  leaders  who  then  came  forward  Vv^ere  Chris- 
topher Gadsden  and  the  youthful  John  Rutledge. 
Gadsden  "  was  a  man  of  deep  and  clear  convic- 
tions; thoroughly  sincere;  of  an  unbending  will  and 
a  sturdy,  impetuous  integrity."  He  said,  long 
afterward : 


"  Our  State  was  the  first,  though  at  the  extreme  end, 
and  one  of  the  weakest,  as  well  internally  as  externally, 
to  listen  to  the  call  of  our  northern  brethren  in   their 


436  THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

distress.  Massachusetts  sounded  the  trumpet,  but  to 
Carolina  it  is  owing  that  it  was  attended  to.  Had  it  not 
been  for  South  Carolina,  no  Congress  would  then  have 
happened." 

Had  it  not  been  for  Gadsden,"  is  perhaps 
equally  true.  He  wrote,  "  Nothing  will  save  us, 
but  acting  together;  the  Province  that  endeavours 
to  act  separately  must  fall  with  the  rest  and  be 
branded  besides  with  everlasting  infamy."  In  the 
evening  after  the  resolution  was  passed,  Governor 
Bull  ordered  the  drum-beat  which  was  the  signal  for 
the  dissolution  of  the  parliament;  but  the  toast  of 
the  day  in  Charleston  was  to  "  the  unanimous 
twenty-six."  As  one  of  the  delegates,  Gadsden 
spoke  in  New  York  with  "  irresistible  impetuosity," 
his  hearers  said  ;  doing  more  perhaps  than  any  other 
one  man  to  make  the  Congress  effectual.  The  par- 
liament approved  the  proceedings  at  once;  and  the 
same  evening  despatched  copies  of  their  resolutions 
to  England.  They  did  not  wait  for  the  circular 
letters  of  the  New  York  Sons  of  Liberty  to  consider 
the  formation  of  a  permanent  continental  union. 
But  when  the  Stamp  Act  was  repealed  the  parlia- 
ment, rejoicing  precipitately,  voted  a  statue  of  Pitt 
and  granted  every  requisition,  even  for  doubtful  pur- 
pose, although  they  continually  prayed  for  modifi- 
cations of  the  Navigation  Acts.  On  news  of  the 
Rescinding  Act  from  Massachusetts  they  "  could 
not  enough  praise  the  glorious  ninety-two  who 
would  not  rescind;  toasting  them  at  banquets,  and 
marching  by  night  through  the  streets  of  Charleston, 


GREATEST  SLA  VE- HOLDING   PROVINCE       437 

in  procession  to  their  honour,  by  the  blaze  of  two 
and  ninety  torches." 

In  the  next  year,  1769,  they  refused  to  furnish 
quarters  for  the  troops,  and  adopted  the  Virginia 
Resolutions;  but  in  the  same  year  they  gave  way 
in  the  long  difference  about  official  salaries,  and 
voted  perpetual  grants,  trusting  to  "  the  honour  of 
the  Crown  "  that  the  commissions  of  judges  should 
be  made  permanent,  a  trust  they  soon  saw  betrayed 
in  the  displacement  of  the  provincial  judges  by 
"  worthless  sycophants."  Almost  immediately  the 
**  sons  of  South  Carolina  esteemed  themselves  dis- 
franchised on  their  own  soil  by  the  appointment  of 
strangers  to  every  office  in  the  government";  for 
from  the  day  when  Lyttelton  abruptly  dismissed  a 
Carolinian  from  the  Council,  no  native  citizen  would 
permit  himself  to  accept  a  seat  in  that  body. 
Moreover,  after  the  Governor  refused  to  pass  any 
appropriations  which  should  cover  the  grant  of  the 
Assembly  to  the  Society  for  the  Bill  of  Rights,  the 
House  would  pass  no  act,  and  patriot  planters  by 
their  private  credit  and  purses  met  the  wants  of 
colonial  agents  and  committees.  A  climax  was 
reached  when  the  new  Governor,  Lord  Charles 
Greville  Montague,  threatened  to  convene  the  par- 
liament at  Port  Royal  unless  a  palace  were  built  for 
him  at  Charleston. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  better  class  of  set- 
tlers in  the  new  northern  districts  mustered  as  a 
volunteer  armed  body,  under  the  name  of  Regu- 
lators, to  protect  their  property  from  horse-thieves 
and  other  desperado  neighbours,  who  had  come  in 


438  THE    IHIRTEEN    COLONIES 

under  the  bounty.  The  roughs  immediately  raised 
a  cry  to  the  Governor  against  the  forcible  measures 
taken  to  make  them  behave  themselves,  and  claimed 
trial  by  jury.  Soon  the  whole  country  was  divided 
into  two  parties,  for  and  against  the  trial  by  jury. 
One  Scoville,  appointed  by  Montague  to  investigate 
the  matter,  sent  some  of  the  Regulators  to  Charles- 
ton, and  bloodslied  was  saved  probably  by  the 
establishment  of  district  courts.  But  the  parties 
thus  drawn  up  retained  their  bitterness  and  trans- 
ferred their  quarrel  to  the  great  issue  of  the  day; 
the  Regulators,  taking  the  side  of  the  colonists, 
were  called  Whigs,  and  "  Scovillite  "  was  synony- 
mous with  Tory.  Montague  had  departed  and 
Bull  was  again  in  authority  when  the  first  great 
commotion  arose  in  1773  over  the  Council's  impris- 
onment of  Thomas  Powell,  the  publisher  of  the 
South  Carolina  6^^z-cr//<:^  (founded  in  1731),  for  alleged 
contempt.  The  Council's  power  to  imprison  on 
their  mere  warrant  was  denied,  and  was  finally  over- 
ruled by  the  patriot  Rawlins  Lowndes  and  another 
magistrate,  before  whom  Powell  was  taken  on  a 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  and  released.  That  same 
year,  when  a  ship  arrived  laden  with  over  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  chests  of  tea,  the  consignee  was  per- 
suaded to  decline  to  receive  it;  and,  although  after 
the  twentieth  day  it  was  seized  by  the  collector, 
there  was  no  one  to  vend  it,  or  to  pay  the  duty, 
and  it  perished  in  the  cellars  where  it  was  stored." 
After  the  Governor  had  for  four  years  negatived 
every  tax  bill  in  the  hope  of  controlling  the  appro- 
priations,   a    Committee   of    Ninety-three    called    a 


MAJOR-GENKRAL    WILLIAM    MOUL'JRIK. 
From  a  Painting  by  Col.  J.  Trumbull.  . 


439 


GREATEST   SLAVE-HOLDING  PROVINCE       44 1 

Provincial  Convention,  sending  to  the  Continental 
Congress  at  Philadelphia  Gadsden  and  John  and 
Edward  Rutledge, —  men  who  took  rank  at  once 
among  the  leaders.  It  was  the  "  impetuous  and 
plain-spoken  "  Gadsden  who  seconded  the  two 
Adamses  in  their  radical  views  on  colonial  union 
and  their  disbelief  in  the  much  talked  of  accom- 
modation of  difficulties;  and  proposed  to  drive 
Gage  out  of  Boston  before  he  could  be  reinforced. 
But  he  was  the  only  one  of  the  South  Carolina  dele- 
gates in  favour  of  the  American  Association,  and 
could  scarcely  prevail  upon  his  colleagues  to  sign  the 
Articles,  even  after  an  exception  in  favour  of  rice 
had  been  inserted  in  the  non-exportation  clause. 
The  Provincial  Convention,  however,  promptly  ap- 
pointed a  Committee  of  Inspection  to  enforce  the 
Articles,  and  named  delegates  to  the  Second  Con- 
gress. In  June  of  that  same  year  (1775)  the  Con- 
vention adopted  an  Association  drawn  up  by  Henry 
Laurens,  its  president.  It  provided  for  a  Committee 
of  Safety,  the  issue  of  six  hundred  thousand  pounds 
in  paper  money,  and  the  raising  of  two  regiments  to 
be  under  the  newly  commissioned  Colonels,  Gadsden 
and  Moultrie. 

When  the  new  Governor,  Lord  William  Camp- 
bell, arrived  in  the  midst  of  these  proceedings,  he 
was  received  with  courtesy;  but  his  parliament  de- 
clined to  transact  any  business,  and  soon  adjourned 
by  its  own  authority.  Meantime,  the  Committee 
of  Safety  completed  the  defences  of  the  province, 
the  two  regiments  of  militia  were  increased  to  five, 
an  English  powder  ship  was  seized  and  brought  into 


442  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

the  harbour,  and  Moultrie  with  little  difficulty  took 
possession  of  the  fort  on  Sullivan's  Island,  which  he 
began  to  rebuild.  The  Tory  spirit  was  strong  only 
among  the  back-country  German  and  Scotch  settlers, 
where,  it  was  said,  Campbell  had  set  on  foot  secret 
negotiations  to  engage  the  Cherokees  against  the 
Association.  By  the  spring  of  1776,  patriotic  judges 
of  the  courts  had  refused  to  act ;  and  as  a  temporary 
measure,"  until  an  accommodation  of  the  unhappy 
differences  between  Great  Britain  and  America  can 
be  obtained,  an  event,  which  though  traduced  and 
treated  as  rebels  we  still  earnestly  desire,"  the  Con- 
vention resolved  itself  into  a  Provisional  Assembly, 
chose  from  its  own  body  a  legislative  council,  elected 
John  Rutledge  president  and  Henry  Laurens  vice- 
president,  and  adopted  a  constitution  of  independent 
government  **  to  continue  to  the  21st  of  October 
next  and  no  longer."  This  was  on  March  24th, 
nearly  two  months  before  the  Continental  Congress 
advised  the  colonies  to  take  such  action. 

On  June  28th,  Moultrie's  half-finished  fort  was 
bombarded  by  a  British  squadron  commanded  by 
Lord  Cornwallis,  which  received  more  damage  than 
it  inflicted.  Major-General  Charles  Lee  —  not  yet 
turned  traitor  —  wrote  to  Washington: 

"  The  cool  courage  they  displayed  astonished  and 
enraptured  me,  for  1  do  assure  you,  my  dear  General,  I 
never  experienced  a  hotter  fire.  Twelve  full  hours  it 
was  continued  without  intermission.  The  noble  fellows 
who  were  mortally  wounded,  enjoined  their  brethren 
never  to  abandon  the  Standard  of  Liberty." 


'W^r.f 


GREATEST  SLAVE-IIOLDING  PROVINCE       445 

From  that  day  the  fortification  on  Sullivan's  Island 
has  been  known  as  Fort  Moultrie. 

Even  with  this  experience,  three  of  the  delegates 
in  the  Continental  Congress  opposed  as  premature 
the  motion  for  independence;  but  the  Provisional 
Assembly  approved  it;  and,  on  the  resignation  of 
Hancock  of  Massachusetts,  Henry  Laurens  was 
made  president  of  the  Congress.  In  the  next  year 
a  provisional  constitution  of  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  was  adopted ;  which  was  replaced  by  a 
permanent  constitution  two  years  later,  in  December, 

1778. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH    COLONY— TWENTY   YEARS 
OF   COMPULSORY   VIRTUE 


SLAVERY    AND    CROWN    GOVERNMENT 

THREE  years  after  George  II.  bought  the  Caro- 
linas  from  the  proprietors,  on  June  9,  1732,  he 
chartered  as  the  province  of  Georgia  the  wilderness 
between  the  Savannah  and  Altamaha  rivers,  which 
for  three  quarters  of  a  century  had  been  the  bloody 
frontier  of  South  Carolinians  and  Spaniards.  It  was 
known  by  the  latter,  apparently,  to  contain  gold  in 
the  Cherokee  region.  In  1717,  Sir  Robert  Mont- 
gomery had  secured  from  the  Palatine  and  Lords 
Proprietors  of  the  province  of  Carolina  a  grant  of 
the  country  between  the  Savannah  and  Altamaha 
rivers,  which  "  most  delightful  country  of  the  Uni- 
verse "  he  intended  to  make  into  the  Margravate  of 
Azilia.  He  drew  much  attention  to  this  territory, 
but  failed  to  colonise  it,  and  fifteen  years  afterw^ards 
there  was  but  the  one  little  settlement  of  Purysburg 
on  the  Savannah,  which  was  not  made  by  him,  in 
all  the  region  of  which  he  wrote,  "  Paradise  with 
all  her  virgin  beauties  may  be  modestly  supposed  at 
most  but  equal  to  its  native  excellencies." 

446 


GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH   COLONY  447 


When  this  wilderness  was  erected  into  the  Thir- 
teenth Colony,  it  was  named  in  honour  of  the  King; 
but  the  glory  is  more  fitly  due  to  the  memory  of  the 
valiant  soldier,  statesman,  and  philanthropist, George 
James  Oglethorpe.  It  was  his  plan  to  occupy  it 
with  fortified  towns,  which  should  be  not  only  a 
bulwark  against  the 
Spaniards,  but  a 
refuge  for  all  the 
persecuted  Protest- 
ants of  Europe,  and 
a  place  where  Eng- 
lish debtors  and 
other  minor  offend- 
ers might  escape  the 
hopeless  wretched- 
ness of  their  pris- 
ons, begin  life  anew, 
and  make  an  honest 
living  with  their 
own  hands.  It  was 
to  be  the  poor  man's 
paradise.  All  land 
was  to  be  entailed 

upon  the  male  heirs  of  the  settlers.  No  holdings 
larger  than  five  hundred  acres,  no  slaves,  no  liquor 
were  to  be  allowed.  All  forms  of  Christianity  except 
the  Roman  Catholic  were  to  be  protected.  With 
these  exceptions,  the  inhabitants  were  promised  "  all 
the  rights  of  natural-born  subjects  in  Great  Britain. " 
The  King,  admitting  the  soundness  of  the  military 
policy,  and  the  economy  of  ridding  England  of  a 


GENERAL    OGLETHORPE. 


448  THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

useless  and  expensive  class  of  people,  sanctioned 
Oglethorpe's  great  undertaking,  which  was  the  be- 
ginning of  England's  last  large  westward  emigration 
— fifty  years  after  the  exodus  to  Pennsylvania — and 
which  completed  her  occupation  of  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board between  French  Canada  and  Spanish  Florida. 
Upon  the  understanding  that  it  was  to  be  a  royal 
province  and  military  defence,  and  that  the  sanction 
of  the  King  in  Council  was  necessary  before  any  act 
of  the  government  became  a  law,  his  Majesty  ceded 
the  management  for  twenty-one  years  to  twenty 
English  gentlemen  identified  with  Oglethorpe  in  his 
efforts  for  prison  reform,  who  were  to  hold  it  in 
trust  for  the  poor.  Their  names  still  survive  in  the 
divisions  of  the  city  of  Savannah,  the  original 
"  wards"  and  "  tithings  "  of  the  first  settlement. 
The  King's  grants  were  increased  by  Lord  Carteret's 
cession  of  his  portion  of  Carolina. 

The  trustees'  government,  according  to  the  motto 
on  their  seal,  "  Non  sibi^  sed  aliis,''  was  to  insure 
that  the  rich  territory  should  be  "  not  for  them- 
selves, but  for  others  "  ;  no  trustee  was  allowed  to 
receive  a  grant  of  land  either  directly  or  indirectly. 
The  management  of  affairs  was  vested  in  a  Common 
Council  of  the  trustees  at  the  head  of  which  was  the 
fourth  Earl  of  Shaftesbury.  The  plantation  was 
entrusted  to  Oglethorpe,  who  was  not  then  forty 
years  of  age.  As  Governor  and  military  commander 
for  ten  years  he  was  the  soul  of  the  undertaking. 
The  flower  of  an  old  English  family  honoured  in 
courts  and  in  camps  for  generations,  he  had  gained 
his  experience  in  many  positions,  among  others  in 


GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH  COLONY 


449 


that  of  aide-de-camp  to  Prince  Eugene  in  the  Turkish 
campaign,  and  had  served  his  country  in  Parliament, 
where  he  had  done  much  for  the  reform  of  flagrant 
civil  abuses,  especially  in  the  prisons.  With  the 
King  as  patron,  with  a  board  of  trustees  held  in 
high  esteem  for  uprightness  and  public  spirit,  and 
with  Oglethorpe  to  command  the  emigration,  the 
colony  prospered  from  the  outset.  Subscriptions 
poured  in  to  the  trustees,  the  Bank  of  England 
heading  the  list  of  public  institutions.  The  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  promised  to  aid  the 
good  work  among  the  colon- 
ists and  Indians.  Clergymen 
and  noblemen  took  out  com- 
missions to  collect  funds. 
Merchants,  believing  that 
wine  and  silk  would  be  made 
the  staples  of  the  colony, 
were  even  more  zealous  than 
the  soldiers  and  statesmen, 
who  had  become  convinced  that  the  rich  but  appar- 
ently ungovernable  province  of  South  Carolina 
would  never  make  a  barrier  against  the  Spaniards. 

Seven  months  after  the  charter  was  signed,  in 
January,  1733,  the  good  ship  Anne  landed  Ogle- 
thorpe and  thirty-five  families,  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  persons,  at  Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  as 
near  as  possible  to  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
province.  They  had  stopped  for  a  day  at  Charles- 
ton, where  the  city  did  its  utmost  to  make  them 
welcome.     The  rich  planters  made  Oglethorpe  pre- 

VOL.  11,-29. 


GREAT  SEAL  OF  GEORGIA  IN 
COLONIAL  DAYS. 


450  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

sents  of  cattle,  goats,  and  quantities  of  rice,  which 
had  made  their  own  fortunes.  William  Bull,  the 
President  of  the  South  Carolina  Council,  joined 
Oglethorpe  with  an  exploring  party,  which  went 
with  him  about  twenty  miles  up  the  Savannah 
River,  and  chose  for  the  first  plantation  and  capital 
the  high,  sandy  "  Yamacraw  Bluff,"  covered  with 
pine  trees,  where  there  was  a  small  settlement  of 
the  Creek  branch  of  the  great  Muskogi  nation  of 
Indians.  Tomo  Chichi,  the  chief  of  the  Creeks, 
was  persuaded  that  it  would  be  to  his  advantage  to 
allow  the  English  to  make  a  settlement  there, 
through  the  fortunate  accident  of  the  explorers' 
meeting  with  Mary  Musgrave,  the  daughter  of  a 
Creek  mother  and  some  roving  English  father,  and 
herself  the  wife  of  an  English  trader. 

Within  six  weeks  the  colonists  were  at  work,  with 
the  help  of  experienced  settlers  and  hired  labourers 
from  South  Carolina,  laying  out  Savannah,  clearing 
and  building  upon  Oglethorpe's  plan  for  a  settle- 
ment that  should  grow  symmetrically  into  a  beauti- 
ful town  —  as  indeed  it  has  become  one  of  the  most 
attractive  cities  in  the  country. 

The  settlers  had  been  carefully  chosen  by  the 
trustees.  Though  poor,  they  were  no  such  scum  of 
the  earth  as  had  been  cast  out  upon  Virginia  a  hun- 
dred years  before,  and  as  France  was  then  landing  at 
New  Orleans  to  people  Louisiana.  Many  of  the 
heads  of  the  first  Georgia  families  were  men  of  good 
character,  in  debt  through  misfortune,  whose  cred- 
itors willingly  released  them  for  small  payments 
made  by  the  trustees.     Some  were  farmers,  small 


GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH  COLONY  45 1 

merchants,  or  workingmen  out  of  employment. 
They  had  a  clergyman,  and  several  of  them  were 
appointed  as  church  officers  before  they  started. 
Others  were  named  for  town  officers.  They  were 
an  intelligent,  reading  community,  well  supplied 
with  Bibles,  prayer-books,  and  catechisms.  "  There 
are  no  idlers  here,"  wrote  a  visitor  from  Charleston  ; 
"  even  the  boys  and  girls  do  their  part." 

Although  malaria  caused  some  sickness,  and  there 
was  disappointment  over  the  carefully  started  silk- 
worms and  vineyards.  Savannah  was  spared  the 
scourge  of  fevers  and  heart-sickness  that  usually 
attack  new  settlements.  In  March,  Oglethorpe 
wrote  to  the  trustees: 

"  Our  people  still  lie  in  tents,  there  being  only  two 
clapboard  houses  built  and  three  sawed  houses  framed. 
Our  crane,  our  battery,  cannon  and  magazine,  are 
furnished.  This  is  all  we  have  been  able  to  do,  by 
reason  of  the  smallness  of  our  numbers,  of  which  many 
have  been  sick,  and  others  unused  to  labour;  though  I 
thank  God  they  are  now  pretty  well,  and  we  have  not 
lost  one  since  our  arrival  here." 

It  is  said  that  Oglethorpe  lived  for  nearly  a  year  in 
the  tent  that  was  pitched  for  him  beneath  the  beau- 
tiful pine  trees. 

The  plan  of  Savannah  covered  a  large  square  on 
the  top  of  the  bluff,  guarded  on  the  landward  sides 
by  a  battery  of  five  cannon.  It  was  laid  off  into 
four  squares  or  wards,  each  of  which  had  a  spacious 
reserve,  also  a  square,  large  enough  to  contain  the 
inhabitants    of    its    corresponding    out-ward,    as   a 


452  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

defended  place  of  retreat  for  the  outside  settlements 
which  were  soon  begun.  The  streets  were  broad, 
and  ran  at  right  angles,  with  little  parks  at  alternate 
crossings.  The  house  lots  were  sixty  feet  by  ninety  ; 
to  each  belonged  a  five-acre  garden  plot,  situate  near 
by,  and  a  farm  of  forty-five  acres,  farther  inland. 
The  houses,  all  of  them  after  the  same  model,  were 
twenty-four  feet  by  sixteen  on  the  ground,  framed 
of  sawed  timber,  floored  with  rough  deal,  sided  with 
unplaned  feather-edged  boards,  and  roofed  with 
shingles.  The  streets,  the  wards,  and  the  tithings 
or  subdivisions  were  formally  named  for  the  trustees, 
the  patrons  and  leaders  of  the  enterprise.  A  battery 
was  built  on  the  river,  below  the  town  ;  and  near  the 
mouth  a  light-house  was  begun  on  Tybee  Island. 
The  inland  villages  were  soon  laid  out  and  settled, 
every  four  of  them  constituting  an  out-ward,  each 
corresponding  to  a  town-ward.  In  the  other  direc- 
tion, a  path  through  the  woods  was  cut  to  a  fertile 
spot  on  the  river  where  an  experimental  garden  of 
ten  acres  was  laid  out  for  vines,  mulberry  trees, 
valuable  drug-producing  plants  and  exotics. 

Tomo  Chichi  was  happy  in  the  possession  of  new 
friends  and  neighbours  who  had  paid  him  well  for 
his  land  while  still  allowing  him  and  his  people  cer- 
tain rights  in  the  midst  of  their  settlement,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  gratification  of  his  boundless  curiosity 
in  all  the  unheard-of  things  they  were  doing.  Ogle- 
thorpe learned  to  talk  with  him  in  the  Muskogi  lan- 
guage. It  is  said  that  Tomo  Chichi  gave  him  a 
buffalo  skin  painted  on  the  inside  with  the  head  and 
feathers  of  an  eagle;  and  that  he  said:  "  Here  is  a 


TOMO    CHICHI. 
From  an  old  Print. 


453 


GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH  COLONY  455 

little  present.  The  feathers  of  the  eagle  are  soft, 
and  signify  love;  the  buffalo  skin  is  warm,  and  is 
the  emblem  of  protection,  therefore  love  and  pro- 
tect our  little  families."  Captain  McPlierson  and  a 
company  of  Scotch  Highlanders  built  Fort  Argyle, 
on  the  Ogeechee  River,  The  trustees  sent  another 
company  of  respectable  debtors,  and  at  about  the 
time  of  their  arrival  came  an  unexpected  party,  not 
from  the  trustees, —  forty  Jews,  who  were  unwel- 
come at  first,  but  at  length  were  accepted  and 
acknowledged  as  a  benefit  to  Savannah.  The 
trustees  spread  news  of  the  new  colony  among  the 
persecuted  Protestants  throughout  Europe.  They 
paid  the  charges  of  the  long  journey  from  the  eastern 
Alps  to  the  western  savannahs  for  the  first  party  of 
exiled  Salzburgers,  who  immediately  began  a  settle- 
ment for  themselves,  and  others  who  followed  them, 
in  the  evangelical  community  which  they  piously 
called  Ebenezer. 

But  the  trustees  in  their  haste  to  people  the  terri- 
tory allowed  many  unworthy  prisoners  to  follow  the 
Annes  respected  company;  shiftless,  lazy  fellows, 
who  would  not  work,  but  occupied  their  time  chiefly 
in  spreading  dissatisfaction  with  the  law  of  entail 
and  the  regulations  against  large  land-holdings, 
slaves,  and  liquor  selling.  The  use  of  rum  was  said 
to  be  necessary  in  that  climate,  and  few  cared  to 
furnish  proof  to  the  contrary.  The  grumblers  said 
that  it  was  plentiful  in  Carolina,  and  that  nothing 
could  keep  it  from  crossing  the  border.  They  talked 
in  the  same  manner  about  slaves.  They  were  op- 
posed by  Scotch  and  German  settlers;  but  many  of 


456  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

the  English  immigrants,  says  Stevens,  declared  that 
they  were  disappointed  in  the  quality  and  fertility 
of  their  lands.  Unwilling  to  labour,  they  hung  for 
support  upon  the  trustees'  store.  They  were  clam- 
orous for  privileges  to  which  they  had  no  right, 
and  fomented  discontent  and  faction  where  it  was 
hoped  they  would  live  together  in  brotherly  peace 
and  charity. 

No  other  colony  had  left  England  like  this  chance 
gathering  of  beneficiaries  so  heavy  with  misfortunes 
that  they  landed  and  began  their  settlements  without 
any  voice  in  their  own  government.  Perhaps  Ogle- 
thorpe saw  that  as  soon  as  the  prison-worn  fugitives 
had  breathed  the  air  of  the  New  World  and  regained 
the  measure  of  their  stature  as  freeborn  Englishmen 
they  would  become  restive  against  the  trustees'  well- 
meant  confinement  to  a  modest  prosperity  under 
paternal  care;  that  they  would  demand  their 
own  government  and  room  to  put  forth  the  same 
efforts  as  other  men  in  the  southern  provinces  to 
acquire  great  plantations,  own  slaves,  and  join  the 
landed  aristocracy.  He  himself  led  the  opposition 
to  slavery;  but  as  early  as  the  second  spring  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  make  the  long  voyage  back  to 
England  to  explain  the  colonists'  views  to  the 
trustees,  to  secure  authority  for  the  extension  of 
military  operations,  and  to  look  after  a  thousand 
and  one  details  for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  well- 
being  of  his  cherished  plantation.  He  took  with 
him  Tomo  Chichi  and  several  other  Creek  chiefs, 
who  were  presented  at  Court,  entertained,  and  shown 
off  to  their  intense  delight.     Queen   Caroline  had 


GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH   COLONY  457 

their  portraits  painted  and  judiciously  scattered  as 
presents.  Oglethorpe  carried  with  him  eight  pounds 
of  silk  raised  in  Georgia,  which  was  made  into  a  robe 
for  the  Queen.  Altogether,  this  visit  gave  a  great 
impulse  to  the  enthusiasm  for  the  Thirteenth  Colony. 
When  the  founder  returned  after  an  absence  of  two 
years  he  commanded  the  **  Grand  Embarkation  " 
of  three  hundred  English  people  and  another  party 
of  Moravians  to  swell  the  settlements,  with  extensive 
supplies  for  building  fortifications  on  St.  Simon's 
Island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Altamaha. 

The  zealous  preachers  John  and  Charles  Wesley 
also  accompanied  him,  the  latter  acting  as  his  secre- 
tary. Both  of  them  were  eager  to  make  conversions 
among  red  men  and  white  to  their  special  form  of 
religion, which  afterwards  took  the  name  of  Method- 
ism ;  but,  as  Charles  confessed,  they  were  as  yet 
undisciplined  to  a  peaceful  possession  of  their  souls, 
and  they  left  the  colony  after  two  years,  to  be  re- 
membered quite  as  much  for  their  discords,  perhaps, 
as  for  their  spiritual  exaltations.  As  the  Wesleys 
departed,  a  man  destined  to  leave  a  deeper  impres- 
sion in  America  made  his  entrance.  George  White- 
field,  the  celebrated  Calvinist  clergyman,  who  had 
journeyed,  with  neither  staff  nor  scrip,  up  and  down 
the  colonies,  became  minister  at  Savannah  in  1738, 
thereby  predestinating  the  Georgians  to  Calvinistic 
Methodism.  Part  of  his  work  was  to  establish  a  char- 
ity projected  by  the  trustees, — a  home  for  orphans. 
Whitefield  threw  himself  into  this  good  work,  mak- 
ing  it  celebrated  throughout  the  country  by  his  tire- 
less journeys  and  subscription-compelling  eloquence. 


458  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

By  this  time  the  colony  had  increased  nearly  ten- 
fold. Fortified  settlements  and  groups  of  farms  had 
sprung  up  on  the  river,  both  above  and  below  Savan- 
nah, with  the  frontier  post  called  Augusta  at  the 
head  of  navigation.  Several  new  settlements  were 
made  on  the  Ogeechee,  the  most  important,  per- 
haps, by  a  band  of  Moravians  under  Count  Spangen- 
berg.  The  Puritan  town  of  Dorchester,  after  an 
existence  of  some  fifty  years  in  South  Carolina,  re- 
moved to  the  river  Midway,  between  Savannah  and 
the  Altamaha.  On  the  Altamaha,  New  Darien  was 
founded  by  a  strong  company  of  Scotch  High- 
landers led,  by  their  minister,  John  McLeod.  Ogle- 
thorpe himself  founded  Frederica,  on  St.  Simon's 
Island,  with  most  of  the  people  of  the  "  Grand  Em- 
barkation." With  the  aid  of  volunteers  from  the 
other  settlements,  he  built  there  the  main  fortress 
of  the  colony,  besides  the  frontier  post  of  Fort  Ed- 
ward, farther  south  on  Cumberland  Island  near  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Mary's  River,  which  the  Spaniards 
admitted  to  be  the  boundary  of  Florida.  The  Eng- 
lish wished  to  push  their  frontier  beyond  the  St. 
Mary's  to  the  St.  John's  River,  and  Oglethorpe 
built  an  outpost  on  the  southern  end  of  Amelia 
Island ;  but  the  Spaniards  immediately  gave  him 
good  reason  to  retire  to  the  St.  Mary's,  where 
he  lodged  his  people  in  palmetto  bowers  made 
on  forks  and  poles  in  regular  rows.  Even  then, 
Oglethorpe  hastened  to  England  to  inform  the 
King  that  his  military  colony  was  no  child's  play, 
that  the  Spaniards  resented  the  whole  proceeding, 
and    that    nothing   but    a  strong  armament  would 


MAim 


GEORGIA,    TIIIKrEENTJI  COLONY  46 1 

protect  it  from  damaging  attacks,  ending  probably 
in  ruin. 

In  the  fall  of  1738,  Oglethorpe  returned  a  brevet- 
colonel  in  the  British  army  and  military  commander 
of  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  under  orders  "  to  give 
no  offence,  but  to  repel  force  by  force. ' '  He  brought 
a  newly  enlisted  regiment  of  regulars.  A  company 
of  South  Carolina  militia  eagerly  volunteered  their 
services  to  the  popular  '*  general,"  as  he  was  com- 
monly styled.  The  Highland  settlers  of  Georgia 
increased  Oglethorpe's  force ;  but  others,  especially 
the  Moravians,  refused  to  take  up  arms,  holding 
principles  similar  to  those  of  the  Quakers.  As  the 
Spaniards  gave  much  attention  to  their  alliance  with 
the  Indians,  the  most  serious  part  of  Oglethorpe's 
generalship  was,  perhaps,  his  relation  with  the  great 
native  nations  that  lay  between  him  and  the  enemy. 
The  whole  Muskogi  nation  had  adopted  him  as  a 
'*  father."  The  chiefs  came  to  his  tent  without 
ceremony,  and  talked  directly  with  him  in  their  own 
language.  By  his  tact,  and  the  admiration  and  re- 
spect felt  for  him,  he  had  already  established  a  wide 
and  powerful  alliance  with  all  their  tribes  and 
tributaries. 

"  In  the  summer  of  1739,"  says  Bancroft,  "  the  Mus- 
kohgees  held  a  council  in  Cusitas,  on  the  Chattahoochee. 
Oglethorpe  entered  the  large  square  council-place,  dis- 
tributed presents  and  renewed  and  explained  their 
covenants.  The  Muskohgees  declared  that  by  ancient 
rights  they  were  the  lords  of  that  country  from  the  St. 
John's  to  the  Savannah,  and  from  the  sea  to  the  mount- 
ains, and  that  they  ceded  to  the  English  all  of  that  coast 


462  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

country  as  far  inland  as  the  tide  flows.  The  right  to 
occupy  it  was  vested  in  the  Trustees  of  Georgia,  who 
agreed  not  to  take  up  any  part  of  it  without  the  consent 
of  the  native  owners." 


Upon  Oglethorpe's  return  to  Savannah  from  this 
council  he  found  orders  from  England  to  attack 
Florida.  While  the  Creeks  were  making  ready  to 
join  the  Highlanders  and  the  South  Carolinians,  he 
led  his  regiment  of  regulars  to  the  capture  of  Fort 
Picolata  over  against  St.  Augustine,  opening  his 
way  up  the  St.  John's  and  cutting  off  the  enemy 
from  their  forts  at  St.  Mark's  and  Pensacola. 
Money  and  men  were  quickly  raised  in  North  Caro- 
lina and  in  Virginia,  and  in  the  spring  of  1740,  the 
commander  reviewed  the  goodly  number  of  twelve 
hundred  militia  and  as  many  more  savage  allies,  be- 
sides several  ships  of  war.  In  May,  an  attack  was 
made  on  St.  Augustine;  but  that  old  castle  was 
more  strongly  fortified  and  better  garrisoned  than 
the  English  suspected.  Oglethorpe  fell  back  to 
contend  with  serious  troubles  on  his  own  side  of  the 
boundary.  The  South  Carolina  friendship  had  be- 
gun to  cool,  through  military  jealousies  and  a  strong 
sympathy  with  the  Georgians'  desire  for  large  land- 
holdings,  slaves,  and  liquor.  While  this  discontent 
fostered  calumnies  against  Oglethorpe,  he  was  on 
the  alert  for  the  external  enemy,  who  made  their 
appearance  in  June,  1742.  By  most  gallant  move- 
ment and  artful  strategy,  though  with  an  inferior 
force,  he  repelled  a  formidable  attack  on  St.  Simon's 
Island,   proving  with   what    skill    the    defences   of 


ST.    AUGUSTINE,    FLORIDA. 


463 


GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH  COLONY  465 

Frederica  had  been  laid  out.  He  soon  forced  a 
*'  sorry  and  almost  ludicrous  conclusion"  upon  the 
last  serious  attempt  of  Spain  to  assert  herself  north 
of  the  Altamaha  River.  The  next  year  he  again 
carried  war  to  the  very  walls  of  St.  Augustine.  He 
himself  was  attacked  during  this  time  in  England, 
not  on  the  real  grievance,  his  opposition  to  rum  and 
negroes,  but  by  a  bill  in  Parliament  making  das- 
tardly charges  of  extravagance  and  peculation. 
Thomas  Stevens,  the  son  of  the  trustees'  aged  and 
honoured  colonial  secretary,  presented  this  bill  to 
the  House  of  Commons.  After  careful  investiga- 
tion it  was  pronounced  false,  scandalous,  and  ma- 
licious; and  Stevens  was  called  to  the  bar  to  be 
reprimanded  on  his  knees.  But  Parliament  resolved 
that  "  it  will  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  Colony  of 
Georgia  to  permit  the  importation  of  rum."  An 
effort  to  allow  the  importation  of  negro  slaves  was 
defeated.  Then  Oglethorpe  went  to  England  to 
meet  another  charge,  brought  by  his  own  lieuten- 
ant-colonel, a  man  who  owed  everything  to  him. 
The  accuser  was  convicted  of  falsehood  and  de- 
prived of  his  commission,  while  Oglethorpe  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general  and  assigned 
to  service  against  Prince  Charles  Stuart,  the  Pre- 
tender.     He  never  returned  to  Georgia. 

He  had  left  the  colony  under  a  president  and 
four  councillors,  who  made  many  changes  in  the 
next  four  years.  They  could  give  little  satisfaction, 
because  the  trustees  still  made  the  laws,  subject  to 
the  approval  of  the  King  in  Council,  and  the  colo- 
nists still  cried  for  slaves,  drinking  their  hard-won 

VOL.  II.— 30. 


466  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

rum  in  a  constant  toast  to  "  the  one  thing  need- 
ful." It  is  no  wonder  that  they  wished  to  become 
masters  of  broad  acres  and  great  fortunes,  but  it  is 
strange  to  find  George  Whitefield  the  leader  of  their 
cause.  He  who  had  poured  forth  eloquence  on  his 
fellow-feeling  for  the  negroes  in  his  early  visit  to 
the  Carolinas  and  Virginia,  now  tuned  his  note  to 
the  popular  cry  —  for  the  popular  reason,  to  make 
money,  not  for  himself  but  for  his  Orphan  House  at 
Savannah.  After  pleading  in  vain  for  the  privilege 
in  Georgia,  he  actually  invested  in  a  slave  plantation 
in  South  Carolina,  and  publicly  thanked  God  for  its 
prosperity,  while  he  complained  to  the  trustees  of 
the  inconvenient  laws  which  compelled  him  to  have 
his  plan'tation  so  far  away  from  his  orphans.  Nearly 
all  the  colony,  high  and  low,  were  with  him,  except 
the  Scotch  and  the  Salzburgers,  who  kept  up  a 
strong  opposition.  Their  leaders  were  traduced, 
threatened,  persecuted.  After  a  time  many  brought 
into  this  province  gangs  of  negroes  hired  from  South 
Carolina  planters.  The  next  step  was  open  defiance. 
At  length  the  trustees  yielded;  slaveholding  was 
allowed  on  condition  that  all  masters,  under  "  a 
mulct  o{  £^  "  should  compel  their  negroes  "  to  at- 
tend at  some  time  on  the  Lord's  Day  for  instruction 
in  the  Christian  religion  " — one  reason  perhaps  why 
the  negroes  about  Savannah  have  always  been  pecu- 
liarly religious  people,  and  mostly  Methodists.  The 
trustees  also  modified  their  regulations  about  land, 
and  made  one  or  two  changes  toward  giving  the  col- 
onists more  voice  in  their  own  affairs,  but  at  length, 
discouraged   and    acknowledging    their   experiment 


GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH   COLONY  467 

a  failure,  gave  up  their  government  to  the  Crown. 
Their  records  show  that  after  nearly  twenty  years  and 
an  outlay  of  iJ"i  54,200 — equal  in  our  day  to  a  million 
and  a  half  of  dollars — they  had  a  colony  of  but  sev- 
enteen hundred  white  people,  besides  four  hundred 
negroes.  Projects  for  raising  wine  and  drugs  had 
failed  utterly;  silk  and  indigo  were  as  yet  forlorn 
hopes.  The  total  exports  of  the  last  three  years 
had  been  but  little  over  three  thousand  pounds  in 
value. 

SLAVERY    AND    CROWN    GOVERNMENT 

Georgia  was  made  a  royal  province  in  1752,  and 
after  two  years  the  government  was  set  up  by  Gov- 
ernor John  Reynolds,  a  captain  in  the  British  navy, 
who  called  a  provincial  parliament  at  Savannah,  in 
which  the  colonists  were  represented  by  nineteen 
delegates.  To  be  eligible  to  the  Legislature,  a  col- 
onist must  own  five  hundred  acres  of  land;  while 
the  right  to  vote  for  delegates  was  at  first  restricted 
to  owners  of  fifty  acres,  though  afterw^ards  extended 
to  holders  of  town  lots.  The  opening  of  this  As- 
sembly was  a  great  occasion  to  the  little  colony. 
The  Governor  made  a  '*  modest  and  judicious 
speech,"  and  the  House  a  complimentary  reply. 
It  is  elaborately  recorded  that  the  government  was 
almost  overthrown  by  the  machinations  of  Deputy 
Edmund  Gray,  "  a  pretended  Quaker  and  fugitive 
from  justice  in  Virginia,"  who  had  a  scheme  to  en- 
gross the  Indian  trade  for  his  own  profit.  But  this 
disaster  was  averted ;  Gray  and  four  of  his  fellow- 
conspirators  were  expelled  from  the  House,  and  the 


468  THE    THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

legislators  proceeded  to  pass  enactments  "  for  train- 
ing the  militia,  laying  out  roads,  regulating  fences, 
erecting  a  market  at  Savannah,  keeping  up  the 
lighthouse  at  Tybee  Island,  .  .  .  the  govern- 
ment of  slaves,  .  .  .  and  issuing  a  paper  loan 
of  ^3,000,"  which  last  was  quashed  by  the  Board  of 
Trade. 

Governor  Reynolds  found  Savannah  a  town  of 
"  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  houses,  all  wooden 
ones,  very  small  and  mostly  old  " ;  and  at  Fred- 
erica  the  fortifications  **  entirely  decayed  and  the 
houses  falling  down."  For  the  last  French  and  In- 
dian War,  then  being  waged  in  the  northerly  pro- 
vinces, twenty  rangers  were  all  he  could  enlist  as  the 
colony's  quota  of  troops;  nor  could  he  and  the  As- 
sembly agree  on  providing  for  them.  For  four  years 
Georgia  had  not  even  sufficient  defence  for  herself, 
to  say  nothing  of  taking  part  in  the  general  con- 
flict. After  two  years,  Reynolds  was  so  involved 
in  quarrels  with  the  representatives  that  he  was  re- 
placed for  four  years  by  Henry  Ellis,  whose  qualifi- 
cations for  the  office  were  taken  for  granted  with 
his  prestige  as  a  northern  explorer  and  protege  of 
the  Earl  of  Halifax.  The  Assembly  voted  money 
at  once  for  building  log  forts  at  Savannah,  Augusta, 
Ogeechee,  Midway,  and  New  Inverness;  while  Ellis 
made  it  one  of  his  first  duties  to  see  to  the  "  pre- 
servation of  a  good  understanding  with  the  neigh- 
bouring Creeks  and  with  the  Spanish  governor  of 
Florida.  The  rangers  were  taken  into  the  King's 
pay,  and  Ellis  obtained  from  Colonel  Bouquet,  com- 
manding in   South  Carolina,   a  hundred  provincial 


Z    -a 
Z      ^ 


GEORGIA,     THIRTEENTH   COLONY  47 1 

troops  of  Virginia,  to  be  quartered  in  Savannah." 
This  energetic  Governor  also  accomplished  the  di- 
vision of  the  province  into  eight  parishes,  and  the 
establishment  of  the  Church  of  England  by  law, 
with  a  salary  of  twenty-five  pounds  a  year  to  each 
parish  minister;  which  failed  to  attract  a  strong  set 
of  men.  Besides  this,  he  healed  many  personal 
grievances,  the  greatest  of  which  was  a  dispute  of 
twelve  years'  standing  with  Mary  Musgrave,  Ma- 
thews, or  Bosomworth,  names  which  the  Creek  half- 
breed  interpreter  took  from  her  three  successive 
husbands.  She  had  rendered  valuable  services  to 
the  founders  of  the  colony,  and  now  claimed  certain 
lands  near  Savannah  and  large  arrears  of  salary. 
The  settlement  of  these  claims  was  especially  im- 
portant because  Mary  had  almost  the  entire  Creek 
nation  behind  her,  and  at  times  the  obstinate  set- 
tlers had  been  threatened  with  the  horrors  of  an 
Indian  war. 

In  1760,  after  Ellis  resigned  on  account  of  failing 
health,  James  Wright  became  Governor.  His  term 
marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  movement  in  agricul- 
ture in  Georgia.  He  believed  that  the  soil  of 
swamps  and  lowlands  along  the  coasts  and  rivers 
could  grow  rice.  As  soon  as  he  had  proved  it, 
plantations  grew  numerous  and  prosperous,  and 
after  thirty  years  Georgia  "  began  to  emerge  from 
long  feebleness  and  poverty."  Indigo  also  was 
raised,  and  large  cargoes  of  lumber  were  shipped  to 
England.  The  political  change  in  Europe  through 
which  Florida  was  ceded  to  England  gave  peace  to 
the  frontier.     In  1763,   the  year  of  the  Treaty  of 


472  THE  THIRTEEN   COLONIES 

Paris,  and  of  Pontiac's  Rebellion, — which  did  not 
touch  this  region, — the  Georgia  Gazette,  the  colony's 
first  newspaper,  was  started. 

In  the  general  resistance  against  the  oppressions  of 
the  mother  country,  the  people  here  were  regarded 
as  "  backward,"  although  when  Governor  Wright 
refused  to  summon  the  Assembly  on  receiving  notice 
of  the  Stamp  Act,  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  after 
consulting  with  the  majority  of  the  members,  sent 
a  letter  to  New  York  approving  the  proposed  Con- 
gress and  promising  to  accept  its  measures.  Repre- 
sentatives and  people  refused  to  comply  with  the 
Quartering  Act  until  the  withdrawal  of  troops  left 
the  province  exposed  to  the  Indians  without  and 
negroes  within,  and  compelled  them  to  make  suit- 
able provision  for  the  King's  soldiers.  In  the  next 
year,  1768,  the  Assembly  was  dissolved  for  approv- 
ing the  proceedings  of  Massachusetts  and  Virginia. 
When  the  call  was  made  to  the  first  Continental 
Congress,  Governor  W^right  again  prevented  the 
election  of  delegates.  In  the  autumn  after  that 
memorable  summer  another  trouble  threatened  ;  and 
what  might  have  been  a  serious  affair  between  the 
Indians  and  the  settlers  of  the  recently  ceded  lands 
of  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees  was  prevented  by  the 
Governor's  proclaiming  a  suspension  of  trade  instead 
of  a  call  to  arms,  and  securing  a  new  treaty  of  peace. 

Meantime  Savannah  had  become  a  lively  port  and 
was  beginning  to  develop  some  city  life;  but  the 
colony  as  a  whole  was  a  scattered  group  of  rough 
frontier  settlements,  with  neither  churches  nor 
schools,    mails    nor    roads.       In    1770,    there    were 


GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH  CO  10 NY  473 

about  fifty  thousand  people,  probably  half  of  them 
negroes.  Of  the  whites  a  few  were  sturdy  Scotch, 
Irish,  and  Germans,  who  worked  with  their  own 
hands,  lived  piously  and  frugally,  opposed  to  rum 
and  negroes.  The  rest  were  either  shiftless,  law- 
less "  mean  whites,"  or  owners  of  fast-growing 
rice  and  indigo  plantations,  a  few  of  them,  near 
Savannah,  living  on  their  estates  in  the  fine  old 
Virginia  style;  but  most  of  them,  following  the 
South  Carolina  model,  lived  in  the  capital  and  let 
their  overseers  work  their  great  gangs  of  negroes 
literally  '*  for  all  they  were  worth." 

In  the  early  part  of  1775,  the  committee  of  Christ 
Church  parish  sent  to  the  other  parishes  of  the 
province  a  call  to  a  convention  to  meet  at  the  same 
time  with  the  General  Assembly.  Seven  out  of 
the  twelve  sent  their  representatives,  but  the  Gov- 
ernor's influence  was  still  sufificient  to  prevent  them 
from  adopting  the  Articles  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation. The  numerous  Scotch  Highlanders  here, 
as  in  almost  all  the  Colonies,  were  mostly  for  the 
King.  By  the  next  spring,  and  the  time  for  the 
second  Congress,  the  parish  of  St.  John's,  includ- 
ing the  district  about  the  river  Midway,  had  resolved 
to  assert  itself  and  to  send  a  man  to  the  Continental 
Congress.  Their  choice,  Lyman  Hall,  was  received 
at  Philadelphia  as  the  representative  of  his  constitu- 
ents, but  was  not  allowed  to  vote.  A  few  months 
later  "  the  flame  had  spread  in  Georgia  beyond  the 
power  of  Governor  Wright  to  quench  it."  In  Sa- 
vannah a  popular  meeting  appointed  a  Council  of 
Safety,  with  William  Cawin  as  president ;  the  powder 


474 


THE   THIRTEEN  COLONIES 


magazine  of  the  city  was  rifled ;  and  at  length 
a  provincial  convention  was  again  summoned. 
Then  this  colony,  hitherto  "  the  defective  link  in 
the  American  chain,"  adopted  the  Articles  of  the 
Association  and  appointed  its  delegates  to  Congress. 
A  powder  ship  which  lay  in  the  mouth  of  the  river 
was  seized,  and  a  part  of  its  contents  forwarded  to 


OLD    FURI",    WHERE    POWDER    MAGAZINE    WAS    SEIZED    IN    1 775. 


the  camp  about  Boston.  Warning  proclamations 
were  unheeded,  and  Stuart,  a  pronounced  royalist, 
who  was  agent  for  the  southern  Indians,  sought 
safety  at  St.  Augustine.  One  regiment,  all  that 
the  little  province  was  likely  to  be  able  to  raise,  was 
called  for  by  Congress.  Then  the  Governor  sum- 
moned the  Assembly  to  meet  early  in  1776;  but  he 
found  himself  ignored,  and  the  colony,  through  the 
Convention,  calmly  choosing  an  executive  council. 


GEORGIA,    THIRTEENTH   COLONY  475 

of  which  Archibald  Bullock  was  appointed  presi- 
dent, and  making  other  preparations  to  administer 
its  own  affairs.  In  February  his  protestations  were 
answered  by  men  in  arms,  and  he  was  made  a  pris- 
oner in  his  own  house,  from  which,  forfeiting  his 
parole,  he  escaped  to  one  of  the  sloops  of  war  lying 
below  Savannah.  Upon  this  a  call  was  issued  for 
half  the  militia  of  the  province  under  Mcintosh,  to 
watch  the  ships.  Hardly  more  than  three  hundred 
men  mustered. 

The  whole  colony  then  numbered  about  five  thou- 
sand men,  but  so  many  of  the  inhabitants  were  not 
in  sympathy  with  the  Convention,  especially  the 
wealthier  planters  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  non- 
exportation  agreement  of  the  Association,  that  re- 
inforcements were  asked  of  South  Carolina.  When 
these  came,  Mcintosh  undertook  to  dismantle  a 
number  of  vessels  which  lay  in  the  river,  loaded 
with  rice  and  other  produce.  The  ships  of  war 
came  up  to  their  rescue  and  made  a  lively  skirmish, 
out  of  which  they  carried  most  of  the  rice.  Mean- 
time a  provincial  regiment  was  authorised,  of  which 
Mcintosh  was  appointed  colonel,  and  for  which 
there  was  little  hope  of  recruits  short  of  North 
Carolina. 

In  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Zubly,  one  of  the  delegates 
and  the  Presbyterian  minister  of  Savannah,  showed 
so  much  alarm  at  the  proceedings  that  "  He  was 
charged  by  Chase  of  Maryland  with  having  violated 
the  injunction  of  secrecy  by  sending  letters  to  Gov- 
ernor Wright,  whose  flight  was  not  yet  known  in 
Philadelphia."     After  that  the  doctor  suddenly  left 


4/6 


THE    THIRTEEN   COLONIES 


the  city  and  a  colleague  was  sent  in  pursuit  of  him ; 
thus  only  three  of  Georgia's  representatives  signed 
the  Declaration. 

In  February  of  the  next  year,  the  Convention 
framed  a  constitution,  and  the  administration  of  the 
State  of  Georgia  began  in  May,  1777. 


^  \r 


^j^^^ 


INDEX 


Abercrombie,    General,    i,    422- 

424  .      . 
Abolitionists,   first,   in   America, 

ii,  igi,  ig5_  _ 
Acadie,  expedition  against,  ii,  337 
Accomac,  i,  99,  no,   in 
Acrelius,  Israel,  ii,  58 
Act  of  Oblivion,  i,  369 
Act  of  Union,  ii,  170 
Adams,  John,  i,  291  ;   ii,  441 
Adams,  Samuel,  i,  279,  2S0,  2S3, 

288,  291  ;  ii,  441 
"Affter   Cull  Colonic,"    i,   358, 

359.  376,  377,  388 
Aftercull  (Newark  Bay),  i,  357 
A^amenticus    (Vork)    River,     i, 

'180-182 
Ahasimus,  i,  354,  357 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  treaty  of,  i,  271, 

416  ;  ii,  220 
Alamance,  ii,  386 
Albania   (New    Jersey),    i,    357, 

358,  386 
Albany,    i,    358,   360,    3S7,   405, 

408,   420,   423  ;  ii,    130,    136, 

223,  224,  433 
Albemarle,    county    of,    ii,    372, 

3S2,  410,  411 
Albemarle,  Duke  of,  see  Monk 
Albemarle,  Earl  of,  i,   125 
Albemarle  Point,  ii,  400,  406 
Albemarle   (Chowan)    River,   ii, 

355,  359 


Albemarle  Sound,  i,  45,  420  ;  ii, 

355,  370,  400 
Alden,  John,  i,  217 
Alexander  VI.,  Pope,  i,  2 
Alexander,   James,   i,   411,  412  ; 

ii,  40 
Alexander,  Sir  William,  Earl  of 

Stirling,     i,     174,     178,     371  ; 

Encouragement  to  Colonies  by, 

i,  176 
Alexandria,  ii,  141 
Algon quins,  the,  ii,  369 
Allefonsce,  Jean,  i,  30 
Alleghany  River,  the,  i,  126 
Allen,  Samuel,  i,  324,  326,   328 
Allen,  Thomas,  i,  328,  342 
Alrichs,  Jacob,  ii,  75,  76,  78,  79 
Alrichs,  Peter,  ii,  84 
Altamaha    River,    ii,    446,    457, 

458,  465 
Altona,  ii,  76,  79 
Amelia  Island,  ii,  458 
America,    discovery   of,   i,    1-6  ; 

early  exploring  expeditions  to, 

i,  2-54,  162-169  ;  ii,  291,  etc. 
Amherst,  Jeffrey,  i,  424,  425 
Amherst,  Lord,  i,  134,  135,  151, 

275 
Amidas,  Philip,  i,  45 
Amsterdam,    i,    191,    352,    373  ; 

Colony  of  the  City  of,  ii,  75, 

79.  154 
Amsterdam  Chamber  of  the  West 
India  Co.,  i,  357-359,  378  ;  ii, 
4 


477 


478 


INDEX 


Anabaptists,  the,  i,  244  ;  ii,  302, 
310 

Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  i,  121,252, 
323,  391,  392  ;  ii,  20,  21,  26, 
28,  33,  84,  130,  269,  272,  273, 
2S7,  332 

Androscoggin  (Bishopscote) 
River,  the,  i,  185 

Annapolis  (Providence,  Anne 
Arundel  Town),  i,  271  ;  ii, 
119,  130,  135,  147 

Anne,  Queen,  accession  of,  i, 
122,  328,  402  ;  ii,  34,  193  ;  i, 
124,  260,  403  ;  ii,  36,  37,  95, 
129,  133,  195,  196,  282,  336, 
367,  368  ;  Avar  of,  i,  328,  330, 
402  ;  ii,  2S1,  336,  414  ;  death 
of,  i,  123,  263,  330,  407  ;  ii, 
133,  286,  33S,  372  ;  "Golden 
Books  "  of,  i,  406 

Anne,  the,  ii,  449,  455 

Antinomians,  the,  ii,  304-308, 
310,  333 

Apalachees,  the,  ii,  414 

Apaum,  or  Patuxet,  i,  201 

Aquedneck,  ii,  303,  306-309, 
312,  314,  316,  322 

Archdale,  Joseph,  ii,  367,  416  ; 
N'e^o  Description  by,  ii,  405, 
411 

Archer's  Creek,  i,  36 

Arembec,  or  Norumbega,  i,  21,  50 

Argall,  Captain  Samuel,  i,  8i-_^., 
165 

Arias,  Gomez,  i,  34 

Arlington,  Lord,  i,  94,  loSjf. 

Armstrong,  Colonel  John,  ii, 
227,  228 

Arnold,  Benedict,  ii,   322,   32S 

Arundel,  Lady  Anne,  ii,  119 

Ashley  River,  ii,  400,  402,  403, 
406 

Ashurst,  Sir  Henry,  ii,  282 

Aspinwall,  William,  ii,  306 

Assembly,  the  (General),  of  Con- 
necticut, ii,  254,  255,  265,  267, 
269,  271,  289,  290  ;  of  Dela- 
ware, ii,  100  ;  or  Parliament  of 
Georgia,  ii,  467,  408,  472,  473, 
474  ;  of  Maryland,  ii,  114,  117- 


123,  134,  136,  140,  142,  144, 
148  ;  of  Massachusetts,  i,  258, 
259,  268,  276,  279,  280  ;  of 
New  Hampshire,  i,  316,  317, 
320,  337,  338,  341,  349  ;  of 
New  Jersey,  ii,  10,  15,  19, 
34,  36,  43  ;  of  East  Jersey,  ii, 
23  ;  of  West  Jersey,  ii,  32  ;  of 
New  York,  i,  89,  401-41 1, 
414,  416,  419.  422,  429-432, 
435,  439-441  ;  or  Parliament 
of  North  Carolina,  ii,  357,  360, 
364,  365,  368,  371.  372,  382, 
384-386,  389 ;  of  Pennsylvania, 
ii,  169,  170,  185,  187,  188, 
194,  195,  199,  201,  211,  212, 
215,  220,  225-227,  231,  232  ; 
of  Rhode  Island,  ii,  321,  323, 
324,  327-330,  332,  333,  335 
337,  339,  341-347,  352  ;  of 
South  Carolina,  ii,  407,  410, 
423,  425,  428,  434-437,  441  ; 
of  Virginia,  i,  89,  94,  97,  98, 
100,  102  ff.,  109,  114-117,  133, 
138-143,  14S,  151,  152,  435  ; 
ii,  104,  355,  356 

Assembly  of  Nineteen,  i,  357, 
366  ;   ii,  79 

Association,  for  the  Defence  of 
Colonial  Rights,  i,  441  ;  Arti- 
cles of  American,  i,  154  ;  ii, 
390,  392,  441,  473-475 

Associators,  the,  ii,  216 

Atherton,  Humphrey,  ii,  325 

Atherton  land  grants,  ii,  266, 
269,  324,  325,  329 

Augusta,  ii,  458,  468 

Auren,  Jonas,  ii,  92 

Avalon,  ii,  104^. 

Axacan,  i,  38,  40 

Ayala,  Pedro  de,  i,  5 

Ayllon,  Lucas  Vasquez  de,  i,  24, 
27,  23 

Azores,  the,  i,  5,  51,  143 


1^ 


Bacallaos,  i,  28 

Bacon,   Nathaniel,   rebellion   of, 
j        i,  109-112  ;  ii,  357,  361 


INDEX 


479 


Bahama  Islands,   the,   i,  24  ;  ii, 

344,  399 
Baltimore,   city  of,  n,   134,   i35, 

147 
Baltimore,  Lady,  i,  95 
Baltimore,    George  Calvert,  first 

Lord,  see  Calvert 
Bancroft,  Archbishop, i,  171,  226, 
Baptist  college  founded,  ii,  348 
Baptists,  the,  ii,  302,  305,  316, 

340 ;    Seventh    Day,    ii,    341 
Barbadoes,  ii,  20,  83,   338,   394- 

396,  403,  404,  423 
Barclay,  Robert,  ii,  22,  26 
Barefoot,  Walter,  i,  318,  323 
Barlowe,  Arthur,  i,  45 
Barneveldt,  John,  i,  357 
Barnwell,  Captain  John,  ii,  370 
Barre,  Colonel  Isaac,  i,  144.  i45> 

431 
Barrington,  ii,  305 
Basse,  Jeremiah,  ii,  28 
Bath,  ii,  367,  368,  370,  37i 
Bath,  county  of,  ii,  372,  382 
Baxter,  George,  ii,  326,  327 
Bayard,  Nicholas,  i,  391,  395 
Bear  Bluff,  ii,  408 
Beaufort,  i,  36  ;  ii,  428,  449 
Beaufort,    Henry,    Duke   of,    ii, 

426 
Beekman,  William,  ii,  7^-79 
Belcher,  Jonathan,  i,   268,   333, 

337i  338  ;  ii,  40,  43 
Bellom.ont,   Richard,  Earl  of,  i, 

259,  327,401  ;  ii,  278,  335 
Bennett,    Richard,   i,    102,    104, 

109  ;   ii,  120 
Bennington,  i,  342 
Bergen,  ii,  6,  11,  17 
Berkeley,  county  of,  ii,  406 
Berkeley,  Lord,  ii,  8,  19,  29,  30, 

394 

Berkeley,  Norborne,  Lord  Bote- 
tourt, i,  151,  152 

Berkeley,  Sir  William,  i,  98,  loi- 
115  ;  ii,  356,  361,  394 

Bermuda,  ii,  357,  399 

Bernard,  Francis,  i,  275,  276, 
284  ;  ii,  44,  344 

Bertie,  Henry,  ii,  426 


Bertie,  James,  ii,  426 

Beverly,    Major  Robert,    i,    113, 

119 
Bikker,  Gerrit,  ii,  71,  72 
Binckes,  Admiral,  i,  38S 
Bjorck,  Eric,  ii,  92,  93 
"  Blackbeard"  (Teach  or  Drum- 

mond),  ii,  375,  44i,  442 
Blackiston,  Nathaniel,  ii,  131 
Blackstone,  William,  i,  223,  233; 

ii,  296 
Blackwell,  Captain  John,  ii,  1S5 
Blair,    Rev.    James,    i,    119- [21, 

123,  124 
Blake,  Joseph,  ii,  407,  412-414 
Block,  Adriaen,  i,  352,   355  ;  ii, 
236,  291 
,    Block  Island,  ii,  246,  344 

Blommaert,  Samuel,  i,   367  ;  ii, 

3,  52,  56 
"Blue    Laws"    of    Connecticut, 

i,  256 
Blunt,  Tom,  ii,  371 
Board  of  Plantations  and  Trade, 
i,  320,  327,  410,  427,  429,  430; 
ii,  112,  345,  382,  468 
Board  of  Revenue  Commission- 
ers for  America,  i,  148 
Bogaerdt,  Joost  de,  ii,  62 
Bogardus,    Dominie    Everardus, 

i,  369  ;  ii,  4 
Bombay     H  00k     (  B  o  m  p  t  j  e  s 

Hoeck),  ii,  60,  70,  75,  76 
Bonnett,  Major  Stede,  ii,  422 
Boone,  Daniel,  ii,  387 
Boone,  Thomas,  ii,  44 
Boston,    i,    158,    233-235,     26S, 
280,   283,    303,    378,   431  ;   ii, 
148,  151,  242,  260,  261,  274, 
285,  290,  292,  305,   307,  311, 
312,  352,  412,  441,  474  ;  town- 
meetings,  i,  279,  288  ;  ii,  232  ; 
Massacre,   i,   284,   436  ;    Tea- 
Party,  i,  291,  440  ;  ii,  289 
Boston  Gazette,  the,  i,  284 
Boston  Nezvs  Letter,  the,  i,  263 
Boston  Port  Bill,  i,  153,  291,  350, 
399,  440;  ii,  loi,  147,  232,  289, 

389 
Bound  Brook,  i,  363 


48o 


INDEX 


Bouquet,  Colonel  Henry,  i,  134  ; 

ii,  231,  468 
Bowling  Green,  i,  432 
Braddock,     Major-General    Ed- 
ward,  i,   129,    130,    272,    394, 
421  ;  ii,  141,  142,  225,  384 
Bradford,  William,  i,   192,   205- 
208,   210,   211,   214,    364  ;    ii, 
241 
Bradley,      Attorney-General,     i, 

410,  412 
Bradley,  Thomas,  i,  13 
Bradstreet,  Colonel,  i,  424 
Bran  ford,  i,  363  ;  ii,  257 
Bray,  Thomas,  ii,  130 
Breda,  treaty  of,  i,  387,  388 
Brent,  Margaret,  ii,  116,  117 
Brewster,  Edward,  i,  Si 
Brewster,  William,  i,  192 
Bridger,  John,  i,  258,  327,  32S 
Bristol,  i,  5,  6,  9 
Brooke,  Lord,  ii,  242 
Brookfield,  i,  250 
Brooklyn,  i,  360 
Broughton,  Ihomas,  ii,  428 
Brown,  Daniel,  ii,  84 
Bucke,  Rev.  Mr.,  i,  73 
Buckingham,  Duke  of ,  i,  17S,  226 
Bull,  Dixey,  i,  301 
Bull,  Henry,  ii,  333 
Bull,  Captain  Thomas,  ii,  269 
Bull,  William,  ii,  428,  450 
Bull,   Dr.  William,   son  of  Wil- 
liam, ii,  434,  436,  43S 
Bullock,  Archibald,  ii.  475 
Bunker  Hill,  battle  of,  i,  350 
Burke,  Edmund,  i,  435,  441 
Burlington,  ii,  2,  32,  37,  44 
Burnet,  Bishop,  ii,  1S6 
Burnet,  Rev.  George,  i,  182,  183 
Burnet,  William,   son  of  Bishop 
of  Salisbury,  i,  267,  268,  333, 

337,  407-409  ;  ii,  37-39 
Burrington,  George,  ii,  380,  38 1 
Burroughs,  Edward,  ii,  324 
Bush  River,  ii,  135 
Buzzard's  Bay,  i,  205 
Byllinge,  Edward,  ii,  30,  32,  159 
Byrd,  Colonel  William,  ii,   372, 

375 


Cabot,  John,  i,  i,   =;-i4,   17,    18, 

3S3    ■ 
Cabot,    Sebastian,  i,   1,5,  6,    13, 

14 
Callowhill,  Thomas,  ii,  197 
Calvert,    Benedict    Leonard, 

fourth  Lord  Baltimore,  ii,  133 
Calvert,  Benedict   Leonard,   son 

of  fourth  Lord   Baltimore,  ii, 

134  ;  founds  city  of  Baltimore, 

ii,  134,  135 

Calvert,  Cecilius,  second  Lord 
Baltimore,  ii,  77,  79,  106,  T07, 
114,  116-124  ;  death  of,  ii,  125 

Calvert,  Charles,  third  Lord 
Baltimore,  ii,  123,  125,  127, 
128,  162,  183  ;  death  of,  ii,  133 

Calvert,  Charles,  fifth  Lord  Bal- 
timore, ii,__97,  133,  135,  211  ; 
death  of,  ii,  139 

Calvert,  Charles,  uncle  of  fifth 
Lord  Baltimore,  ii,  134 

Calvert,  Frederick,  sixth  Lord 
Baltimore,  ii,  136,  139  ;  death 
of,  ii,  147 

Calvert,  George,  first  Baron  Bal- 
timore, the  founder  of  Mary- 
land, i,  95-97,  loi,  181  ;  ii, 
54,  104-106,  394  ;  death  of,  ii, 
106 

Calvert,  George,  son  of  first 
Lord  Baltimore,  ii,  107 

Calvert,  Leonard,  son  of  first 
Lord  Baltimore,  i,  97  ;  ii,  107, 
108,  no,  115;  death  of,  ii,  116 

Calvert,  Philip,  son  of  first  Lord 
Baltimore,  ii,  107,  121,  123 

Cambridge,  ii,  292 

Cambridge  (Newtown),  i,  233, 
242,  268,  291  ;  ii,  268 

"Cambridge  Platform,"  the,  i, 
242 

Cameronians,  the,  ii,  25 

Campbell,  Captain  Laughlin,  i, 
414 

Campbell,  Lord  Nedl,  ii,  25 

Campbell,  Lord  William,  ii,  441, 
442 


INDEX 


481 


Canada,  French  settlements  in, 
i,  30,   43,    127,   165,    177  ;  ex- 
peditions  against,    i,   256  ;   ii, 
136,  215,  337  ;  conquest  of,  i, 
135,    325,    424>    425:    ii,    100, 
143,  344 
Canada  Company,  the,  i,   17S 
Cancer,  Father,  i,  34 
Canonicus,  i,   202;  ii,   296,   300, 

312,  313 
Cape,  Ann,  i,  224;  Breton,  i,  21, 
50,  1 78  ;  Carteret  (Cape  Ro- 
maine),  ii,  399;  Cod,  i,  51, 
176,  188,  195  ;  Cornelius,  i, 
352,  353;  ii,  2  ;  Elizabeth,  i, 
184;  Fear,  ii,  366,  372,404,  419; 
Finisterre,  i,  105  ;  Hatteras, 
i,  35  ;  Henlopen,  ii,  2,  51,  52, 
76,  82,  97,  98,  126,  162  ;  Mey, 
ii,  2,  3  ;  Porpoise,  i,  1S2,  184, 
186 
Cape    Fear    River,    ii,  383,  386, 

390,  394-396,  400,  401,  403 
Cardross,  Lord,  Earl  of  Buchan, 

ii,  407 
Carey,  Thomas,  ii,  367-370 
Caribbean  Sea,  i,  41 
Carlisle,  ii,  228 

Carolina,  palatinate  of,  created, 
ii,  354,  355  :  bought  by  George 
II.,    ii,    426,    446  ;    part    of, 
ceded  to  Georgia,  ii,  448  ;  see 
also  under  North  and  South 
Caroline,  Queen,  ii,  456,  457 
Carr,  vSir  Robert,  i,  246;  ii,  80 
Cartagena,  i,    126,    26S;  ii,    135, 

287,  343 
Carteret,   Elizabeth,  ii,  11 
Carteret,  Sir  George,   i,   389;  ii, 
S-12,  18-20,  22,    30,  201,  3S0, 
394,  426  ;   cedes  his  share  of 
Carolina  to  Georgia,  ii,  448 
Carteret,  George,  ii,  360,  401 
Carteret,  Captain  fames,  ii,  17, 18 
Carteret,  Philip,  ii,  9-13,  15,  17- 

22,  27,  29,  360 
Cartier,  Jacques,  i,  29,  30 
Cartwright,  George,  i,  246 
Carver,  |ohn,  i,  192,  195,   205 
Casco,   f,  iSi,  183,  184,  1S6 
31 


Casco  Bay,  i,  51,  175 

Castle  Island,  i,  355 

Cathay,  i,  26,  28 

Catherine  de'  Medici,  i,  35,  39 

Cato,  ii,  429 

Cawin,  William,  ii,  473 

Cervantes,  Father  Antonio  de, 
i,  27 

Champlain,  Lake  (Iroquois 
Lake),  i,  301,  345,  355,  421- 
423,  425 

Champlain,  Sieur  de,  i,  30,  40, 
174,  178,  293 

Charles  L,  King,  i,  94,  176,  226, 
309;  ii,  263,  394  ;  Charters 
granted  by,  i,  181;  ii,  104; 
charters  vacated  by,  i,  179, 
235  ;  names  New  England,  i, 
355  ;  creates  palatinate  of 
Maryland,  ii,  54,  104-106  ; 
death  of,  i,  loi,  186,  244 

Charles  II.,  i,  103,  104,  106, 
109,  315,  316,  384;  ii,  31,  118, 
124,  331,  332,  354,  356,  357; 
restoration  of,  i,  218,  245;  ii, 
122,  323,  325  ;  grants  of,  to 
Duke  of  York,  i,  187,  3S3, 
426  ;  ii,  83,  190,  266  ;  grant 
to  Penn,  ii,  84,  159,  162  ; 
grants  charter  to  Connecticut, 
ii,  263,  282,  324-327  ;  to 
Rhode  Island,  ii,  324-327  ;  to 
North  Carolina,  ii,  35 S,  362  ; 
creates  palatinate  of  Carolina, 
ii,  354,  356,  357.  393,  394; 
death  of,  i,  116,  252,  323,  390  ; 
ii,  184,  270 

Charles  V.,  Emperor,  i,  24,  28 

Charles  IX.,  of  France,  i,  35,  36, 

ii,  394 
Charlesbourg  Royal,  i,  30 
Charles  City,  i,  89,  98 
Charlesfort,  or  Carolina,  i,  36 
Charles   Gustavus,     of    Sweden, 

ii,  72 
Charles  River,  i,  205;  ii,  238 
Charles  Town,  or  Charleston,  ii, 

359,  366,  370,    396,  400,  406- 

415,  419,   420,   422,  428-431, 

433,  436-439-  449 


INDEX 


Charlestown  (Mishawum),  i,  223, 
230,  232,  291,  292 

Charlevoix,  i,  30 

Charlotte,  ii,  390 

Charter,  of  Connecticut,  ii,  261- 
265,  324  ;  preservation  of,  ii, 
271-274,  282,  285,  2S7  ;  of 
Council  for  New  England,  i, 
179,  235 ;  of  Dutch  West 
India  Company,  i,  357;  ii,  236  ; 
of  Georgia,  ii,  449  ;  of  Liber- 
ties and  Privileges,  i,  390  ;  of 
Maryland,  ii,  104,  105,  120, 
124,  126-129  ;  of  Massachu- 
setts, i,  162,  229,  257,  259, 
284,  291  ;  vacated,  ii,  271  ;  of 
New  York  City  (Dongan's),  i, 
391 ;  of  North  Carolina,  ii,  358, 
361  ;  of  Pennsylvania,  ii,  159, 
160,  186,  187,  226  ;  of  Phila- 
delphia, ii,  190  ;  of  Plymouth 
Council,  i,  169,  170,  173,  179, 
181  ;  of  Privileges  and  Ex- 
emptions, i,  366,  368  ;  of 
Rhode  Island,  ii,  266,  324, 
326,  353  ;  vacated,  ii,  271, 
332,  342  ;  of  South  Caro- 
lina, ii,  410,  424  ;  of  United 
New  Netherland  Company,  i, 
355  ;  of  Virginia,  i,  56,  70,  74, 
92,  109/: 

Chattahoochee  River,  the,  ii, 
415,  461 

Cherokees,  the,  ii,  142,  384,  385, 
388,  433,  442,  472 

Chesapeake  Bay  (Bay  of  St. 
Mary),  i,  28,  38,  40,  56,  68 

Chester  (Upland),  ii,  150,   162 

Chew,  Benjamin,  ii,  219 

Chicheley,  Sir  Henry,  i,  113  ;  ii, 
364 

Chickahominy  River,  i,  64 

Chowan  (Passamagnus,  Albe- 
marle) River,  ii,  355,  357 

Christaensen,  Hendrick,  i,  352 

Christina,  (^)ueen,  of  Sweden,  ii, 
55,  57,  65,  70-72 

Christina  Creek,  ii,  65,  78 

Christina,  or  Christiana  (Min- 
quas'  Kill)  River,  ii,  57,  97 


Church  of  England  in  the  colo- 
nies, i,  100,  106,  170,  210, 
223,  306,  381,  387,  391,  402; 
ii,  36,  96,  126,  129,  219,  271, 
287,  292,  340,  367,  413,  415, 
416,  432,  471 
Church,    Captain    Benjamin,     i, 

219;  ii,  331 
Chygoes  Island  (Matineconk,  or 

Tennako,  etc.),  ii,  31 
Claiborne,    William,    i,    90,    96, 
97,    loi,    104  ;    ii,    loS,    112, 
115-117,  120 
Clarendon,  county  of,  ii,  396 
Clarendon       (Edward        Hyde), 
Earl  of,   i.   402  ;  ii,   324,   327, 
368,  394 
Clark,  George,  i,  413-415 
Clarke,    Dr.   John,    i,    246  ;    ii, 
305,  307,   j08,   316,   319,  320, 
323-325  ;  ingratitude  of  Rhode 
Island  to,  ii,  327,  328 
Clarke,  Walter,  ii,  332 
Claverhouse,  John,  ii,  24 
Cleve,  George,  i,   183-186 
Clinton,  Admiral  George,  i,  404, 

415,  416,  419 
Clinton,  General,  ii,  391 
Cobham,  Lord,  i,  51 
Cocheco,  falls  of,  i,  299,  301,  304 
Coddington,    William,    ii,     304- 

309,  316,  321,  330 
Code,  the  Duke's,  i,  387  ;  ii.  Si 
"  Cohees,"  the,  i,  123 
Coke,  Sir  Edward,  i,  172  ;  ii,  292 
Colden,     Cadwallader,    i,    346, 

419,  424,  426,  427,  429,  435 
Coligny,  Admiral  de,  i,  35,  37 
College,  Academy,  and  Charita- 
ble Schoorof  Philadelphia,  ii, 
219 
College  of  New  Jersey  founded, 

ii,  40 
College,  of  William  and  Mary, 

founded,  i,  120,  121 
Colleton,  county  of,  ii,  406,  407 
Colleton,  James,  ii,  409,  410 
Colleton,  Sir  John,  ii,  394,  426 
Columbus,   Christopher,  i,   2,  5, 

14,  17,  18,  27 


INDEX 


483 


Colve,  Captain  Anthony,  i,   3S8, 

389 
Commission   for    Enquiring  into 

the  State  of  New  England,  i, 

187  ;  ii,  80 
Committee  of  Correspondence,  i, 

153,  439  ;  ii.  147.  232 
Committee  or  Council  of  Safety, 

i,  292,  350,  394,  44T  ;  ii,  148, 

441.  473 

Commonwealth,  the,  i,  187,  244, 
309  ;  ii,  259,  263,  320,  323, 
355,  356 

Communipaw,  ii,  4,  7 

Conanicut  Island,  ii,  316,  33S 

Conant,  Roger,  i,  224,  225,  229 

Concord,  ii,  290,  352 

Concord,  the,  i,  51 

Conecocheague,  ii,  142 

Confederation  of  the  Puritan  col- 
onies of  New  England,  see 
New  England 

Congregationalism  in  the  colon- 
ies, i,  19T,  242,  306  ;  ii,  13, 
14,  36,  260,  264-290,  etc. 

Congress,  First  Continental,  or 
Colonial,  i,  154,  161,  291, 
292  ;  ii,  loi,  147,  232,  290, 
352,  389.  390.  441,  442,  445. 
472  ;  Second,  i,  157  ;  ii,  148, 
232,  235,  473 

Connecticut,  Commonwealth,  of, 
i,  382,  383,  387  ;  ii,  ,13,  254, 
264  ;  first  settlements  in,  made 
by  Dutch,  ii,  236,  238  ;  migra- 
tion of  Massachusetts  towns 
to,  ii,  237,  238-249  ;  trade  with 
Indians,  ii,  236-240  ;  troubles 
with  Indians,  ii,  246-249  ;  the 
Pequot  War,  i,  240  ;  ii,  250- 
253  ;  aids  in  King  Philip's 
War,  ii,  270  ;  government  of, 
framed,  ii,  253-256  ;  constitu- 
tion of,  i,  254,  255,  257  ; 
Dutch  claims  to,  ii,  238,  240, 
242,  248,  257,  269  ;  population 
of,  in  1643,  ii,  257  ;  at  death 
of  Queen  Anne,  ii,  286  ; 
boundary  disputes  of,  ii,  258, 
264-267,   325,   329,   330,  342  ; 


loyal  aid  in  royal  wars,  ii,  258- 
260,  274,  277,  281,  282,  287, 
288 ;  liberal  royal  charter 
granted  to,  ii,  261-265,  271, 
274,  277,  278,  324,  325  ;  code 
of  laws,  ii,  268  ;  church  gov- 
ernment of,  ii,  267,  269,  270  ; 
New  Haven  colony  under  jur- 
isdiction of,  ii,  266  ;  Quak- 
ers in,  ii,  260  ;  preservation  of 
charter  of,  ii,  271-274,  282, 
285,  338  ;  education  in,  ii, 
278,  281,  286  ;  Yale  College 
founded,  ii,  281  ;  trade  of, 
with  West  Indies,  ii,  285,  286  ; 
clergy  exempt  from  taxation, 
ii,  285  ;  protests  against  Stamp 
Act,  ii,  289  ;  sympathy  for 
Massachusetts  in  Boston  Port 
Bill,  ii,  289  ;  renounces  alle- 
giance to  the  Crown,  ii,  290  ; 
becomes  a  State,  ii,  290 
Connecticut  (Versche)  River,  the, 
i,  250,  355,  357,  358,  365, 
370,  385  ;  ii,  236,  241,  251 
Connecticut  Valley,  i,  211,   236; 

ii,  237,  240 
Constitution      of     the      United 

States,    the,    i,    161  ;  ii,   338 
"Constitutions,    Fundamental," 

the,  ii,  401,  409-411 
Constitutions,  State,  i,  161,  292  ; 
ii,    235,    254,    353..  388,   392, 
445,  476 
Conway,  General,  i,  147 
Coode,  John,  ii,  126,  127 
Cooper,     Anthony    Ashley,     see 

Shaftesbury 
Cooper  River,  ii,  400,  403 
Copeland,  Patrick,  i,  89 
Copley,  Sir  Lionel,  ii,  129 
Cordova,  Hernandez  de,  i,  22 
Cornbury  (Edward    Hyde),   Vis- 
count, i,   402-404;  ii,    35-37, 
36S    ;   conspiracy   of,    ii,    282, 

338 
Cornwaleys,  Captain  Thomas,  ii, 

107 
Cornwallis,  Lord,  ii,  442 
Corssen,  Arendt,  ii,  149 


484 


INDEX 


Cortelyou,  Jacques,  ii,  6 

Cortereal,  Caspar,  i,  17 

Coitereal,  Miguel,  i,  17 

Cortez.  i,  28 

Cosby,  Colonel  William,  i,  410- 
412;   ii,  39 

Cotton,  John,  ii,  304 

Cotton,  John  (Jr.),  ii,  412,  426 

Council,  of  Eight,  i,  373  ;  of  For- 
eign Plantations,  i,  loi,  105, 
184,  1S6,  235,  240,  242,  246  ; 
for  New  England,  i,  195,  210, 
211,  226,  229,  235,  298,  299, 
303,  364,  391,  404  ;  ii,  241, 
267  ;  of  Pennsylvania,  ii,  188, 
189,  202  ;  of  Twelve,  the,  i, 
372 

Coureurs  de  bois,  i,  38C,  40S 

Court,  General,  the,  see  binder 
General 

Court,  Particular,  of  Connecti- 
cut, the,  ii,  254 

Covenanters,  the,  ii,  25 

Craddock,  ?^Iatthew,  i,  231,  235 

Cranfield,  Edward,  i,  319,  320 

Cranston,  Samuel,  ii,  335,  341 

Craven,    Charles,    ii,    416,    419- 

421 

Craven,  county  of,  ii,  406 
Craven,    Earl    of,    ii,    394,    416, 

426 
Creeks,   the,   ii,    370,   414,    420, 

450,  462,  468,  471,  472 
Cromwell,    Oliver,   i,    loi,    102, 

104;    ii,    T20-I22,    259,     314, 

319.  323 
Cromwell,  Richard,  ii,  323 
Cromwell,  Thomas,  i,  217 
Crown   Point,   i,   416,   421,  422, 

424,  432 
Culpeper,    John,     ii,     364,    365, 

406 
Culpeper,   Lord   Thomas,  i,  94, 

108^.,  113-115  ;   ii,  125 
Cumberland,  Duke  of,  i,  129 
Cumberland  Island,  ii,  458 
Cura9oa,  i,  373 
Curler,  Jacob  van,  i,  370 
Cutt,  John,  i,  317,  319 
Cuttyhunk,  i,  51 


D 


Dale,  Sir  Thomas,  i,  75,  78,  81, 

165 
Damariscove  Islands,  i,  iSi 
Daniel,  Colonel  Robert,  ii,    367 
Dare,  Virginia,  i,  49 
Dartmouth,  Earl  of,  ii,  434 
Dartmouth    College,   founded,  i, 

349 

Davenant,  Sir  William,  ii,  118 

Davenport,  John,  ii,  14 

Dawson,  Mary,  ii,  426 

Declaration  of  Independence,  i, 
161,  292,  426,  442  ;  ii,  50, 
103,  148,  235,  290,  392,  476 

Declaration  of  Indulgence,  ii,  25 

Declaration  of  Rights,  i,  152,  161, 
i        431,440 
j    Deerfield,  ii,337 
i    De  Laet,   Niemve  IVereldt,  ofte 
Beschryvinghe    van    West  In- 
dien,  by,  i,  359 

De  Lancey,  James,  i,  411,  412, 
4i5,  419,  422,  424 

De  Lancey,  Stephen,  i,  409 

Delaware,  Dutch  settlements  in, 
ii,  51-54  ;  Swedish  settlements 
in,  ii,  54-74  ;  New  Haven  set- 
i  tlements  in,  ii,  62;  Finnish 
settlement  in,  ii,  72,  83  ; 
Dutch  conquest  of,  ii,  73-75, 
154;  surrendered  to  the  Eng- 
lish, ii,  80-S3,  154  ;  temporary 
annexation  of,  to  Pennsylvania, 
,  ii,  85-87,  94,95,  170;  Swed- 
ish and  Anglican  worship  in, 
!  ii,  88-94,  96  ;  separate  govern- 
ment of,  ii,  94,  95,  1S5,  186, 
191  ;  becomes  a  royal  province, 
ii,  95,  197;  Quakers  in,  ii,  154  ; 
boundaries  of.  settled,  ii,  97, 
211;  description  of,  ii,  98; 
Sends  delegates  to  Continental 
Congress,  ii,  loi  ;  accepts  De- 
claration of  Independence,  ii, 
103 

Delaware,  or  South  Bay,  i,  360  ; 
various  names  for,  ii,  52,  85, 
97,  264 


INDEX 


485 


Delaware  (Zuyde, or  South)  River, 
i,  323,  357,358,  365,370,385; 
ii,  2,68,  73,  149,  i5[,  153,  154, 
159,  163,  1S3,  335  ;  forks  of 
the,  ii,  20S 

Delawares,  the,  ii,  iSi,  182,  20S, 
212,  215 

De  laWarre,  Lord,  i,  413 

De  Luna  y  Arellano,  Don  Tris- 
tan, i,  35 

Denny,  William,  ii,  226,  227 

Dermer,  Captain,  i,  201 

De  Vaudreuil,  Governor  of  Can- 
ada, i,  425  ;  ii,  340 

De  Vries,  David  Petersen,  i,  369, 
372  ;  ii,  4,  52-54,  64 

d'Hinoyossa,  Alexander,  ii,  79, 
81  _ 

Dickinson,  John,  Letters  front  a 
Farmer,  by,  ii,  231 

Dieppe,  i,  30 

Dieskau,  Baron,  i,  422 

Digges,   Edward,  i,  103 

Dinwiddie,  Robert,  i,  127,  12S, 
130,  133  ;  ii,  141 

Dismal  Swamp,  the,  ii,  360 

Dobbs,  Arthur,  ii,  384-386 

Dominion  of  New  England,  see 
New  England 

Dongan,  Thomas,  i,  390,  391  ;  ii, 
192 

Dorchester  (Mass.),  i,  233,  236, 
240,  247,  292 

Dorchester  (S.  C),  ii,  458 

Dover  (Hilton's  Neck),  i,  298, 
309,  317,  325 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  i,  41,  42, 
48 

Drisius,  Dominie,  i,  382 

Drummond,  James,  Earl  of  Perth, 
ii,  23 

Drummond,  William,  i,  109  ;  ii, 
357,361 

Drysdale,  Hugh,  i,  124 

Duane,  James,  i,  440 

Dudingston,  Lieutenant,  ii,  348, 

351 
Dudley,  Joseph,  i,  252,  260,  263, 
323,  328-330,  397,403  ;  ii,  271, 
282,  332,  336,  338 


Dudley,  Thomas,  i,  232 

Dummer,  Jeremiah,  i,  267,  268  ; 
ii,  2S7 

Dunbar,  Major  David,  i,  338, 
341  ;  ii,  228 

Dunkards,  the,  see  Tunkers 

Dunmore,  John  Murray,  Earl  of, 
i,  152,  157-160,  439 

Durant  (Duren),  George,  ii,  356, 
362,  365 

Dutch  explorers,  i,  351  ct  scq. ;  ii, 
51-54,  etc.,  291  ;  settlers,  on 
Connecticut  River,  ii,  236,  238, 
240,  242,  245,  247,  257,  269; 
on  Delaware  Bay,  ii,  51-62,65, 
70-80  ;  in  New  Jersey,  ii,  1-7, 
II  ;  in  New  York,  i,  351-383, 
388,  389  ;  ii,  268  ;  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, ii,  149-154;  in  South 
Carolina,  ii,  406,  407 

Dutch  Reformed  Church,  the,  i, 
381 

Dyer,  Mary,  ii,  305,  324 

Dyer,  William,  ii,  305,  306,  324 


Eastchurch,    Governor,   ii,    361- 

364 
East  India  Company,  the,  i,  50, 

53,  153,  162,  398,  440 
East  India  Company,  Dutch,  i, 

352 
East  Indies,  i,  2 
East  Jersey,  see  New  Jersey 
Easton,  ii,  44 
Easton,  Nicholas,  ii,  308 
Ebenezer,  ii,  455 
Eden,   Charles,  ii,  372,  375,  380 
Eden,  Sir  Robert,  ii,  147,  148 
Edenton,  ii,  372 
Ediston  River,  the,  ii,  408 
Edward  VI.,  i,  42 
Elkins,  Jacob,  i,  352,  355,  356  ; 

ii,  2 
Elk  River,  the,  ii,  123 
Eliot,  John,  i,  242,  312 
Elizabeth,  Queen,   i,   37,  41-44, 

47,  49,  50,  52,  55 
Elizabeth  City,  i,  98 


486 


INDEX 


Elizabeth  Town,  ii,  8,  11-13, 
15,  19,  21,  23,  27,  34,  3S-40, 
44,  49,  360  ;  charter  of,  ii,  39 

Elizabeth  Town  Code,  ii,  16 

Ellis,  Henry,  ii,  468 

Elzevir,  i,  359 

Encoiii-agenient  to  Colonies,  by 
Sir  Wm.  Alexander,  i,  176 

Endicott,  John,  i,  226,  229,  230, 
236,  245  ;  ii,  246,  250 

England,  exploring  expeditions 
of,  to  America,  i,  2,  5-22,  41- 
54,  63-68,  162-166,  etc.  ;  wars 
of,  with  France,  i,  118,  126, 
135,  137,  178,  259,  260,  270, 
324,  341,  402,  409,  415,  420  ; 
">  333  ;  "^vith  Holland,  i,  108, 
378,  387  ;  ii,  124,  257-259, 
319  ;  with  Spain,  i,  41,  49,  53, 
54,  126,  etc. ,268  ;  ii,  342,  414, 
416,428,  462,  465,  471 

English  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,  i,  242,  276,  279  ;    ii,  96, 

419-  449 
Erie,  Lake,  i,  135  ;  ii,  22S 
Esopus,  i,  3S1,  386 
Evans,  John,  ii,  95,  193,  194 
Everhard,   Sir  Richard,    ii,   3S0, 

381 
Evertsen,  Admiral,  i,  388 
Exeter,    i,    240,   304,    317,    325, 

350  ;  ii,  305 


Fabritius,  Jacob,  ii,  88 
Fairfax,  Lord,  ii,  125 
Fairfield,  ii,  252,  257,  259,  320 
Falmouth  (Portland),  i,  175,  181, 

256 
Falmouth  (Va.),  i,  125 
False  Cape,  the,  ii,  98,  126 
Farret,  James,  i,  371 
Fauquier,   Francis,   i,   134,    147, 

151 
Fendall,   Captain  Josias,    ii,   78, 

121,  125 
Fenwick,  George,  ii,  257 


Fenwick,  John,  ii,  30,  159 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  of  Spain, 

i,  i8 
Ferdinando,  Simon,  i,  44 
Ferrar,  Nicholas,  i,  82 
Finns,  the,  ii,  83,  154,  155 
Fitch,  Thomas,  ii,  288 
Five    Nations,    the,    i,    355  ;    ii, 

109 
Flax  used  as  currency,  ii,  132 
Fletcher,    Colonel    Benjamin,   i, 
397,  398,401  ;  ii,  87,  187,  277, 
333 
Florida,   discovery   of,    and    first 
settlements  in,  i,  22,  23,  28,  30, 
33-38,  43,   126,  etc.  ;  ii,  355, 
356,  415,  421,  428,  45S  ;  ceded 
to  England,  ii,  471 
Flower,  Enoch,  ii,  166,  169 
Fontainebleau,  treaty  of,  i,  137 
Forbes,  General  Joseph,  i,   134, 

135  ;  ii,  228 
Fort  Amsterdam,  i,  383  ;  ii,  5  ; 
Argyle,  ii,455  ;  Beversrede,  ii, 
65,  149,  152  ;  Carolina,  i,  36- 
38  ;  Casimir  (New  Castle),  i, 
374,  37S  ;  ii,  70.  71,  75,  I53  ; 
Charles,  i,  74;  Christina  (Chris- 
teen,  Altona),  ii,  57,  61,  62,  66, 
70,  73,  74,  76,  82,  84,  88,  92, 
93,  97,  153  ;  Cumberland,  ii, 
141,  143  ;  Duquesne  (Pitts- 
burgh), i,  128,  135,  424  ;  ii, 
141,  143,  224,  226,  228,  384, 
385  ;  Edward  ii,  458  ;  Fred- 
erick, ii,  142  ;  Frontenac,  i, 
424  ;  George  (N.  H.),  i,  350  ; 
George  (N.V.),  i,  432  ;  George 
(R.  I.),  ii,  351  ;  Good  Hope 
("  House  of  Good  Hope"),  i, 
370,  378  ;  ii,  238,  239,  245, 
260  ;  Henry,  i,  74  ;  James,  i, 
388,  391  ;  Korsholm  (Grips- 
holm),  ii,  155  ;  Le  Bceuf,  i, 
127  ;  Lygonier,  ii,  231  ;  Ly- 
man (Edward),  i,  422,  423  ; 
Moultrie,  ii,  442,  445  ;  Nassau 
(on  the  Hudson),  i,  355,  356, 
358  ;  ii,  2  ;  Nassau  (on  South 
B^y),   i,  359,  370;  ii,  2,  5,  52, 


INDEX 


487 


Forts — Continued 

57,  151,153  ;  Necessity,  i,  129; 
Oplandt  (Upland),  ii,  52,  53  ; 
Orange,  i,  358,  365,  374  ;  Pic- 
olata,  ii,  462  ;  Pitt,  ii,  231  ; 
Popham  or  St.  George,  i,  164  ; 
Stanwix,  i,  416  ;  Trinity,  ii, 
72  ;  William,  i,  466  ;  William 
Henry,  i,  389,  422,  423 

Fox,  George,  ii,  14,  29,  31,  330, 
359.  376 

France,  exploring  expeditions  of, 
to  America,  i,  2,  21,  25-30, 
35-38,  81,  etc.  ;  wars  of,  with 
England,],  118,  122,  126,  133- 
137,  178,  259,  260,  270,  324, 
341,  402,  409,  415,  420;  ii, 
130,  136,  274,  333  ;  see  also 
French 

Francis  I.,  i,  25,  26,  29,  30 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  i,  130,  264, 
2S8  ;  ii,  46,  2or,  205,  215,  216, 
219,  225-227,  231,  233 

Franklin,  James,  i,  264 

Franklin,  William,  ii,  45,  46,  49, 
50,  226,  227 

Frederica,  ii,  458,  462 

Fredericksburg,  i,  125 

French,  settlements  in  Canada 
and  Louisiana,  i,  30,  43,  127, 
165,  etc. ;  ii,  450  ;  claims  to  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  i,  119  ;  oc- 
cupation of  the  Ohio  Valley, 
i,  126-128,  etc. 

French  and  Indian  wars,  i,  272, 
314,  325,  330-334,  342,  391, 
395,  402,  415,  420,  421,423  ; 
ii,  37,  43,  88,  100,  132,  136, 
140,  187,  215,  223^.,  228,  231, 
274,  2S1,  287,  288,  337-340, 
343,  3S4,  385,  433,  468 

French  and  Spanish  war,  i, 
122 

Frontenac,  Count  de,  i,  256,  395 

Fuller,  Samuel,  i,  192 

Fuller,  Captain  William,  ii,  120, 
121 

"  Fundamental  Constitutions," 
the,  by  John  Locke,  ii,  359, 
366 


Gadsden,  Christopher,  ii,  435, 
436,  441 

Gage,  General,  i,  146,  147,  284, 
287,  291,  432  ;  ii,  441 

Garay,  Francisco  de,  i,  24 

Gardiner,  Lyon,  ii,  242,  251 

Gaspee,  the,  ii,  348,  351 

General  Court,  of  Connecticut, 
ii,  250-252,  254-256,  259,  261, 
270  ;  of  Massachusetts,  i,  235, 
239,  241-245,  250,  258,  275, 
276,  279,  2S3,  288,  291,  292, 
304-306,  308,  310,  313 ;  ii, 
245,  250-252,  310,  311,  325 

George  I.  (Elector  of  Hanover), 
accession  of,  to  English  throne, 
i,  123,  133,  196,  330,  375,  407, 

408  ;  263,  334  ;  ii.  38,  338-340, 
3S0,  424,  426 ;  death  of,  i, 
267.  337 

George  IL,  accession  of,  i,  267, 

409  ;  ii,  341  ;  long  reign  of, 
i,    124-135  ;    wars  of,  i,   271, 

325,  333,  337,  341-343,  415  ; 
ii,    211,    215,   287,    342,    343  ; 

135,  381.  383,  427,  446,  447: 
death  of,  i,  135,  425 

George  HL,  accession  of,  i,  135, 
344,  425  ;  231,  384;  colonial 
policy  of,  i,  137-140,  275,  279, 
352,  426-442  ;  rebellion  of  the 
colonies,  i,  44  ;  ii,  100,  383, 
385,  etc. 

George,  Lake,  i,  414  ;  battle  of, 
i,  422,  424 

Georgia,  coast  of,  explored  by 
Spanish,  i,  22,  26  ;  province 
of,  founded  by  English,  i,  126, 
268  ;  ii,  446,  449 ;  part  of 
Carolina  ceded  to,  ii,  380,  448  ; 
Swiss  settlers  in,  ii,  428,  446  ; 
English  colony  planted  by 
Oglethorpe,  ii,  447-451  ;  trus- 
tees' government  of,  ii,  447, 
44S,  455,  456  ;  plan  of  Sa- 
vannah, ii,  450-452  ;  alliance 
with  Indians,  ii,  452,  461,468, 
472  ;     lic^uor    and   slaves   for- 


488 


INDEX 


Georgia —  Cotitinued 

bidden  in,  ii,  447,    455,    456, 

465,  466  ;  Moravian  settlers 
in,  ii,  457,  45S  ;  Methodism, 
ii,  457  ;  Calvinism  in,  ii,  466  ; 
Scotch  and  Irish  settlers  in, 
ii,  455-458,  461,  466,  473  ; 
Jewish  settlers  in,  ii,  455  ; 
German   settlers    in,    ii,    455, 

466,  473  ;  boundary  troubles 
with  Spain,  ii,  45S,  461,  462, 
465  ;   population  of,     ii,    458, 

467,  473,  475  ;  discontent  of 
colonists  with  government,  ii, 
428,  466  ;  rum  and  slavery 
permitted,  ii,  465,  466,  468, 
473  ;  becomes  a  Crown  prov- 
ince, ii,  467  ;  attempt  of,  to 
issue  paper  money,  ii,  468  ; 
Church  of  England  established 
in,  ii,  471  ;  agricultural  pro- 
ducts of,  ii,  471  ;  approves  of 
measures  of  Stamp  Act  Con- 
gress, ii,  472  ;  sends  delegates 
to  second  Congress,  ii,  473 ; 
appoints  Council  of  Safety,  ii, 
473  ;  adopts  Articles  of  Asso- 
ciation, ii,  474,  475  ;  delegates 
from,  sign  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, ii,  476  ;  adopts 
State  constitution,  ii,  476 

Georgia  Gazette,  the,  ii,  472 

German  colonists  in  North  Caro- 
lina, ii,  389  ;  in  Pennsylvania, 
ii,  165,  166  ;  in  South  Caro- 
lina, ii,  435 

German  Town,  ii,  165,  166,  173, 
igi,  195,  206,  207 

Gibbons,  Ambrose,  i,  300,  301, 
303 

Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  i,  43,44, 
47,  51 

Gilbert,  Raleigh,  i,  163 

Gillam,  Captain,  ii,  363 

Gist,  Christopher,  i,  127 

Glen,  James,  ii,  433,  434 

Gloucester,  i,  359  ;  ii,  2 

Gloucester  River,  ii,  2 

Glover,  William,  ii,  367 

Godfrey,  Edward,  i,  185 


Godyn,   Samuel,  i,  367  ;  ii,  3,  52 
Goffe,  William,  i,  245  ;  ii,  262 
Gold,  Nathan,  ii,  2S5,  2S7 
Gomez,  Estevan,  i,  28 
Gooch,  William,  i,  125 
Gookin,  Colonel  Charles,  ii,  194, 

196 
Gookin,  Samuel,  i,  242,  312 
Gordon,    Patrick,    ii,    200,    205, 

211 
Gorgeana  (Agamenticus),  i,  1S2, 

185,  377 
Gorges,   Sir   Ferdinando,    i,    53, 

162-173,   179,   180,   181,   184, 

187,  196,  201,  211,  235,   246, 

294,  298,  299,  377 
Gorges,  Captain    Robert,  i,  173, 

176,  207,  221,  223 
Gorges,  Thomas,  i,  182,  183 
Gorges,  William,  i,  iSo 
Gorton,   Samuel,  i,  246  ;  ii,  307, 

30S,  310-313,  322,  329 
Gosnold,  Captain   Bartholomew, 

i,  5I_/".,  60 
Gourgues,  Dominique  de,  i,  39 
Gove,  Edward,  i,  320 
Graffenried,   Baron    de,   ii,  369, 

370 
"  Grand  Model  of  Governments," 

by  John  Locke,   ii,   359,  361, 

365,  400 
Grant,,  Major-General,  ii,  434 
Granville,  Lord,  ii,  415,  416 
Gray,  Edmund,  ii,  467 
Great  Island,   i,   300,   310,   318, 

323 
Greene,  Nathanael,  ii,  352 
Greene,  Roger,  ii,  355,  358 
Greene,  Thomas,  ii,  117,  118 
Greene,  William,  ii,  341 
Greenfield  Hill,  ii,  252 
Green    Mountain    Boys,    tlie,    i, 

427  ;  ii,  290 
Greenwich  (Ct.),  ii,  257 
Greenwich  (R.  L),  ii,  33S 
Greenwich  Bay,  ii,  311 
Grenville,  George,  i,  143 
Grenville,    Sir    Richard,    i,    48, 

Grijalva,  Juan  de,  i,  22 


INDEX 


489 


Crz)^^;/ (Griffin),  the,  ii,  57 
Grotius,  Hugo,  i,  357 
Guilford,  Lord,  ii,  134 
Guilford  (Ct.),  ii,  257 
Guilford  (N.  J.),  ii,  13 
Gunpowder  River,  the,  ii,  135 
Gustavus  Adolphus  of  Sweden, 
i,  374  ;  ii,  54-56,  62,  66 


H 


Habomak,  i,  202 
Hackensack,  i,  372  ;  ii,  5,  7,  11 
Hague,  The,  ii,  71 
Hakluyt,  Richard,  i,  50-53 
Halifax,  i,  271,  283,  291 
Halifax,  Lord,  i,  346  ;  ii,  46S 
Hall,   Lyman,  ii,  473 
Hamilton,    Colonel    Andrew,    i, 

412  ;  ii,  25,  26,  28,  32,  35,  95, 

192,  193,  220 
Harfiilton,   James,   ii,    220,   225, 

227 
Hamilton,  John,  ii,  37 
Hamilton,    Marquis  of,   ii,    241, 

242,  267 
Hampton,  i,  304,  305,  317 
Hancock,  John,  i,   291,   292  ;  ii, 

445 
Handcock,  ii,  370,  371 
Hanham,  Thomas,  i,  163 
Hanover  (N.  H.,)i,  349     >. 
Hanover  (Va.),  i,  140,  159 
Hardy,  Sir  Charles,  i,  422,  423 
Hardy,  Josiah,  ii,  44 
Harford,  Henry,  ii,  147 
Hariot,  Thomas,  i,  48 
Harris,  William,  ii,  322 
Hart,  John,  ii,  133,  134 
Hartford,    i,    360,   37S  ;  ii,   238, 

245,  247,   249,   251,   257,   260, 

272,  277 
Harvard   College,    i,    120,    239, 

307,  308  ;  ii,  281,  285 
Harvey,   Sir  John,  i,  95,  97  ;  ii, 

107 
Haselrig,  Sir  Arthur,  i,  loi 
Haviland,  Colonel,  i,  425 
Haw  River,  the,  ii,  3S6 
Hawkins,  Sir  John,  i,  37 


Hawkins,  Richard,  i,  169 
Hawley,  Jerome,  ii,  107 
Hawley,  Joseph,  i,  280 
Haynes,  John,  ii,  240,  256 
Heath,  Sir  Robert,  ii,  394 
Hebrides,  the,  i,  21 
Heemstede  (Hempstead),  i,  3S7, 

388 
Hemp  used  as  currency,  ii,  132 
Hendricksen,  Captain  Cornelius, 

ii,  2,  52 
Henricus,  i,  75,  81,  89,  98,  no 
Henrietta  Maria,  Queen,  i,  181  ; 

ii,  104 
Henry  VIL,   i,    i,    5,   9-14,    18, 

2r 
Henry  VHL,  i,  14,  42 
Henry,  Patrick,  i,  133,  140,  146, 

157-160,  435 
Herman  (Heermans),  Augustine, 

ii,  78,  124 
Hesselius,  Samuel,  ii,  96,  97 
Heyes,  Peter,  ii,  52,  53 
Higginson,  Rev.    Francis,  i,  230 
Hill,    Colonel    Edward,    i,    103, 

no 
Hill,  General,  i,  263 
Hillsborough,  ii,   390 
Hillsborough,  Lord,  i,  148,  151, 

283 
Hilton,  Edward,  i,  298 
Hilton,  William,  i,  298 
Hilton's  Neck  (Dover),   i,   299, 

300,  303,  309 
Hinckes,  John,  i,  323 
History    of   AlassacJnisetts ,    by 

Hutchinson,  i,  280 
History  of  North   Carolina,   by 

John  Lawson,  ii,  369,  395 
Hobocan,  i,  372,  381  ;  ii,  4,  5,  7 
Hobson,  Captain,  i,  169 
Hochlega  (St.  Lawrence)  River, 

i,  17,  30 
Holderness,  Lord,  i,  420  ;  ii,  223 
Hollaendaer,    Peter,    ii,   62,  63, 

65 
Holland,   i,    191  ;  ii,   413  ;  wars 

between  England  and,  i,  108, 

378,    387;    ii,    124,    257-259 

319  ;    East    and   West    India 


490 


INDEX 


Holland —  Continued 

Companies  of,  i,  352,  357,  359, 
363,  366-374,  378,  3S3,  388  ; 
11,  2,  3,  54,  56,  58.  59,  75,  79, 
236  ;  see  also  under  Dutch 
Holm,  John  Campanius,  ii,  150 
Holm,    Thomas  Campanius,    ii, 

58 
Holmes,  ^^illiam,  ii,  239,  241 
Holyman,  Ezekiel,  ii,  302 
Hooker,   Thomas,   ii,  240,    248, 

253 
Hoorn,  i,  352 
Hoornkill  (Lewes),  ii,  53,  54,  83, 

84 
Hopahaccan,  ii,  57 
Hopkins,  Edward,  ii,  256,  260 
Hopkins,  Samuel,  ii,  iS 
Hopkins,   Stephen,  ii,   341,  344, 

347.  351 
Hore,  Robert, i,  21 
Hossett,  Gillis,  ii,  52-54 
Housatonic  River,  i,  371 
Howard,    Lord,    of    Effingham, 

1,   115-118 
Hudde,  Andreas,  ii,  151,  152 
Hudson,  Henry,  i,  351,  352,  355; 

ii,  I,  51  '    . 

Huguenots,  the,  in  the  colonies, 

i,  35,   37,   125,   178,  381  ;    ii, 

195,  368,  413,  414 
Hulft,  Peter  Evertsen,  i,  360 
Hunt,  Captain,  i,  20 [ 
Hunt,  Rev.  Robert,  i,  60 
Hunter,  Robert,  1,404-407,  409; 

ii,  37 
Hurons,  the,  i,  355 
Hutchinson,  Mrs.  Anne,   i,  239  ; 

ii,  304-309 
Hutchinson, Thomas,  i,  271,  272, 

275,  279,  280,   283,   287,   291, 

341;  ii,  343 
Hyde,  Edward,  see  Clarendon 
Hyde,  Edward,  see  Cornbury 
Hyde,      Edward,     Governor     of 

North  Carolina,  ii,   368,  370 

I 

Independents  or  Separatists,  the, 
i,  100,  loi,  18S,  242,  etc. 


Indians,  uprising  of,  in  Virginia, 
i,  91,  92;  King  Philip's  war,  i, 
109,  3i2-3[5  ;  ii,  20,  270,330, 
331;  Pontiac's  rebellion, i,  135- 
137,425;  ii,  143,228,231,  385, 
388,  472;  the  "praying,"  i, 
312;  sold  into  slavery,  i,  219; 
ii,  403-407,414;  treaties  with, 
i,  356,  365,408,  416,  420,423; 
ii,  181,  223,  224;  wars  of, 
with  Dutch,  i,  372,  373,  381  ; 
trade  with,  ii,  149,  155,  236- 
240,  292,  357,  359,  467,  472; 
Penn's  treatment  of,  ii,  161, 
178,  179,  189-192,  207,  208; 
missionary  efforts  among,  i, 
242,  243,  276,  312;  ii,  181,295, 
296,  314,  382,  457  ;  Pequot 
war,  ii,  249-254 ;  raids  of 
French,  i,  252,  260,  267,  272  ; 
Tuscarora  and  Yamassee  wars, 

ii,  369-371,  375,  395,  419-421 
Ingersoll,  Jared,  ii,  2S9 
Ingle,  Captain  Richard,  ii,  115- 

117 
Ingoldsby,     Major    Richard,    i, 

396,  404;  ii,35,  37 
Ingram,  David,  i,  42,  43 
Ipswich,  i,  234,  305  ;  ii,  242 
Irish  settlers,  ii,  435,  473 
Iroquois,  the,    i,   355,  405,    415, 

416,   421,  422  ;    ii,    178,   181, 

192,  223,  369 
Isles  of  Shoals,  i,  1S6,   293 


Jacobson,  Marcus,  ii,   83 

Jamaica,  i,  24 

James  I.,  i,  44,  52,  53,  85,  107, 
108,  170,  172,  176,  179,  igr, 
226,  357,  364  ;  ii,  106,  135; 
charters  South  Virginia  Com- 
pany, i,  53,  55,  56,  70,74,  92  ; 
charters  North  Virginia  Com- 
pany, i,  53,  162 

James  1 1. (Duke  of  York),  acces- 
sion of,  i,  116,  323;  ii,  24,  184, 
270,  273,  331,  390;  forms  Do- 
minion of  New  England, i,  220, 


INDEX 


491 


James  II. — Continued 

252,  323,  383,  385,  386;  ii, 
126,  229,  316,  331;  deposed,  i, 
255,  392,  393;  ii,  87,  127,  332, 
410  ;  death  of,  i,  324 

James  City,  i,  98 

James(Iacan, or  Powhatan)  River, 
i,  40,  59,  63,  90,  98 

Jamestown,  i,  28,  51,  59,  60,  63, 
6S--75,io2,  122,164,  352;ii,57, 
104;  first  legislative  body  in 
America    meets    at,   i,   86  ff. 

Jamestown  (R.  I.),  ii,  338 

Jans,  Anneke,  i,  369 

Jay,  John,  i,  440-442 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  i,  159,  161; 
Swtimary  Views  of  the  Rights 
of  British  America,  by,  i,  154 

Jeffries,  Herbert,  i,  113 

Jenckes,  Joseph,  ii,  341,  342 

Jennings,  Edmund,  i,  123 

Jennings,  Samuel,  ii,  32 

Jesuit  missionaries,  ii,  109,  no, 
114 

Jews,  in  the  colonies,  i,  382  ;  ii, 

333,  455 
Johnson,  Augustus,  ii,  348 
Johnson,  Sir  Nathaniel,  ii,  367, 

415,  416 
Johnson,    Robert,   ii,   421,    423, 

424,  427,  428 
Johnson,  Sir  William,  1,415,416, 

422,424,  425,  429 
Johnston,  Gabriel,  ii,  382 
Jones,  Captain  Edmund,  i,  52 
Jones,  Sir  William,  ii,  32 
Joppa,  ii,  135 


Keith,  George,  ii,  186 

Keith,    Sir  William,   i,   272;   ii, 

196,  198-200,  211 
Kendall,  George,  i,  60 
Kennebec  River,  the,  i,  164,  165, 

173,  184,  211,  297,  325,  385 
Kennebunkport  (Cape  Porpoise), 

i,  182 
Kent,  county  of,  ii,  86,  103 


Kent  Island,  i,  96,  loi;  ii,  104, 

108, 115 
Key  to  the  Indian  languages  of 

America,  by  Roger   Williams, 

ii,  254 
Kidd,  Captain,  i,  401;  ii,  132 
Kieft,  William,    "  the  Testy,"  i, 

370-373;  ii,  5,60,  62,  151 
Kieft's  Tavern,  i,  373,  374,  377 
King  in  Council,  the,  i,  94,  316; 

ii,  27,  136,  277,448,  465 
King's  College,    the    (Columbia 

University),  i,  419 
King's  Province,  the,  ii,  269,  287, 

330.  332,  338 
King's  (James)  River,  i,  59,  63 
Kingston,  i,  329  ;  ii,  338 
King  William  School,  ii,  130 
Kinsessing,  ii,  150 
Kirke,  Sir  David,  i,  178 
Kittery,  i,    178,    182,    185,    186, 

300,  302 
Knox,  James,  ii,  387 
Kussoes,  the,  ii,  402,  403 
Kyle,  Richard,  ii,  408 


Labazares,  Guido  de,  i,  35 

Labrador,  i,  5,  17 

Laconia  Company,  i,  174,    175, 

178,  179,  185,  300,  302 
La  Dauphine,  i,  25 
Lamberton,  George,  ii,  67 
La  Pense'e,  i,  17 
La  Salle,  Robert,  i,  119 
Laud,  Archbishop,   i,    182,  214, 

233,  235;  ii,  292^ 
Laudonniere,  Rene  de,  i,  37,  38 
Laurens,  Henry,  ii,  441,  442,  445 
Laurie,  Gawen,  ii,  23,  24,  30 
Law,  Jonathan,  ii,  287,  288 
Lawrence,  Richard,  i,  109 
Lawson,  John,   ii,  369  ;    History 

of  Carolina,  by,  ii,  369,  395 
Lee,  Major-General   Charles,  ii, 

442 
Lee,  Richard  Henry,  i,  154,  161, 

440 
Lee,  William,  i,  153 


492 


INDEX 


Lehigh  River,  the,  ii,  2o8 

Lehigh  Valley,  ii,  226 

Leisler,    Jacob,    rebellion   of,  i, 

118,  393/"-,  396,  397,  401,  402, 

408;  ii,  26 
Lenni-Lenapes,     the,     ii,      178, 

224 
Le  Quattro  Giorjiate,  i,  iS 
Lery,  Baron  de,  i,  23 
Levett,  Christopher,  i,  175,  176, 

178,  298 
Lewes,  ii,  52,  82 
Lexington,    battle    of,     i,    157, 

290,  292,  441;  ii,  49,  102,  352, 

390 
Leyden,  i,  191;  ii,  434 
Liberty,  Society  of  the  Sons  of, 

i,  412,  431,  432,  436,  441;   ii, 

289,  436 
Lindstroem,  Peter,  ii,  58,  72 
Little  Egg  Harbour,  ii,  30 
Little  Harbour,  i,  297-300,  341 
Little  River  (Ct.),  ii,  238,  245 
Little  River  (N.  C),  ii,  372 
Livingston,  Philip,  i,  440 
Livingston,  Robert,  i,  405 
Livingston,  William,  i,   429;  ii, 

40 
Lloyd,  David,  ii,  193 
Lloyd,     Thomas,    ii,    1S3,    185, 

187 
Locke,  John,  ii,  359,  400,  401 
Logan,  James,  ii,  192,  196,  199, 

216,  219 
London,  i,  9,  10,  13,   14,   54;  ii, 

247  ;  Council,  the,   i,   55,   64, 

67,    68,    71,    74,    171  ;     Great 

Plague  and  Fire  in,  i,  250  ;  ii, 

124  ;  Bishop  of,  ii,  130 
London,  the,  i,  440 
Londonderry,  i,  336 
Long  House,  the,  ii,  223,  371 
Long  Island,  settlements,  i,  371, 

378,   3S2,    385,    388,    421;   ii, 

258,  265,  268,   320  ;  tribes,   i, 

373;  ii,  252 
Long  Island  Sound,  ii,  269 
Lords  Commissioners  for  Trade 

and  Plantations,   i,    121,   214, 

249,  413,  420,  426  ;   ii,  334 


Loudon,  Lord,  i,   133,   134,  275, 

345,  422 
Louis  XIII.,  of  France,  i,  178 
Louis  XIV.,    i,    iiS,    122,    324, 

395^ 
Louisbourg,   capture  of,   i,    134, 

271,   341,    416,    423,    424;   ii, 

215,  288,  343 
Lovelace,    Sir   Francis,    i,    387, 

388;   ii,  8r,  82 
Lovelace,  John,   Lord,  Baron  of 

Hurly,  i,  404;  ii,  37 
Lowndes,  Rawlins,  ii,  438 
Ludwell,  Philip,  ii,  366,  411 
Ludwell's  war,  i,  336 
Lutherans,  the,   i,  125,  382  ;   ii, 

413 
Liitzen,  battle  of,  ii,  55 
Luyck,  Dominie  /Egidius,  i,  3S2 
Lyford,  John,  i,  210,   222 
Lygon,  Cicely,  i,  174 
Lygonia  (Laconia),  i,    174,    175, 

179,  1S3,  1S4,  186,  294 
Lyttelton,  William,  ii,  434,  437 


M 


Macdonald,  Flora,  ii,  383 
Mace,  Captain  Samuel,  i,  50 
Madagascar,  i,  39S;  ii,  411 
Madeira,  i,  143 
Magalhaens,  Fernando  de,  i,  27, 

28 
Maine,  i,  50,  163,  170-173,    175, 

177,  178;  first  government  in, 

i,  180-182,   184,   185  ;  bought 

by  Massachusetts,  i,  1S7,  219 
Maldonado,  Diego,  i,  34 
Manahattas,  the^  i,  352 
Manakin,  i,  125 
Manhattan   Island,   i,   35S,   360, 

366;  ii,  I,  52,  266 
Marblehead,  i,  291 
Martha's  Vineyard,  i,  51,  3S5 
Martin,  John,  i,  60 
Martin,  Josiah,  ii,   389-391 
Mary,  Queen,  i,  42 
Maryland,    named     for     Queen 

Henrietta  Maria,  i,   loi,   181; 

ii,  104  ;  grant  of,  to  LordBal- 


INDEX 


493 


Maryland — Continued 

timore,  ii,  54 ;  charter  of.ii,  104- 
107  ;  early  settlements  in,  ii, 
104,  107-112  ;  plantation  life 
adopted  in,  ii,  110-112  ;  lib- 
eral form  of  government  es- 
tablished, ii,  113-115  ;  the 
"  plundering  time  "  in,  ii,  115, 
116  ;  tobacco,  flax,  and  hemp 
used  as  currency  in,  ii,  in, 
132  ;  Toleration  Act  passed, 
ii,  118, 120,132;  Puritan  settle- 
ment in,  ii,  118,  119;  battle  of 
the  Severn,  ii,  120,  121;  militia 
established,  ii,  122  ;  colonists 
of  all  nationalities,  ii,  124  ; 
tobacco  troubles  in,  ii,  124  ; 
boundary  disputes  of,  i,  68;  ii, 
124-126,  135,  136,  143,  202, 
205,  211  ;  Church  of  England 
in,  ii,  126,  129,  130;  popula- 
tion of,  ii,  125  ;  becomes  a 
Crown  province,  ii,  127-129  ; 
capital  removed  to  Annapolis, 
ii,  130;  postal  service  in,  ii,i32; 
manufactures  in,  ii,  132  ; 
slavery  in,  ii,  134  ;  Baltimore 
founded,  ii,  134 ;  effect  of 
French  and  Indian  wars  upon, 
ii,  130,  132,  136,  143  ;  pros- 
perity of,  ii,  136  ;  "  parsons" 
a  byword,  ii,  140  ;  effect  of 
Stamp  Act  in,  ii,  143,  144  ; 
sends  delegates  to  general 
Congress,  ii,  144,  147  ;  sends 
aid  to  Boston,  ii,  147,  148  ; 
appoints  committees  of  Cor- 
respondence and  of  Vigilance, 
ii,  147  ;  sends  quota  to  Con- 
tinental Army,  ii,  148  ;  as- 
sumes State  government,  ii, 
148 

Maryland  Gazette,  the,  ii,  143, 
144 

Mason  (Charles)  and  Dixon's 
(Jeremiah)  line,  ii,  104,  145 

Mason,  George,  i,  152,  161 

Mason,  Captain  John,  i,  170, 
175,  177-179,  181,  246,  294, 
299,  300  ;  death  of,  i,  303,  305 


Mason,  John,  i,  324 

Mason,  Captain  John,  of  Wind- 
sor, ii,  250-252,  258 

Mason,  Joseph,  i,  309 

Mason,  Robert  (grandson  of 
John),  i,  309,  314,  315,  319, 
320,  323,  324 

Mason,  Robert,  i,  324 

Mason,  Thomas,  i,  147 

Massachusetts,  explorations  and 
early  settlements  in, i,  162-187, 
221,  222;  the  Plymouth  Com- 
pany, i,  162,  163,  165,  169, 
170  ;  the  Plymouth  Council,  i, 
1 71-174,  176,  179  ;  Bay  Com- 
pany, i,  177,  180,  186;  the  Old 
Colony  of  New  Plymouth 
planted,  i,  188  et  seq.\  the 
May /tower,  i,  188,  192,  195, 
199  ;  landing  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  i,  192,  195,  196  ; 
constitution  of  the  Pilgrims, 
i,  195  ;  alliance  with  Mas- 
sasoit,  i,  201-205;  government 
of  the  Old  Colony,  i,  205,  213, 
214;  first  Thanksgiving  Day, 
i,  206  ;  the  London  partners 
of  the  Pilgrims,  i,  173,  2og, 
210,  221  ;  charter  desired  by 
Old  Colony,  i,  210,  218;  Great 
Migration  of  the  Bay  Colony, 
i,  177,  211,  229-234;  King 
Philip's  war  in,  i,  218,  219  ; 
Pequot  war,  ii,  250-252  ;  the 
Old  Colony  incorporated  into 
province  of,  i,  219,  220; 
covenant  of,  colony,  i,  230, 
231  ;  beaver  skins  and  wam- 
pum used  as  currency  in,  i, 
207,  230  ;  government  of,  i, 
234,  235  ;  General  Court  of,  i, 
184,186,  234,  etc.;  see  also  Ggxx- 
eral  Court  ;  claims  jurisdiction 
over  INIaine  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, i,  1S5,  187,  240,  250, 
304-306,  310,  311,  315,  323, 
324  ;  purchases  Maine,  i,  187, 
252  ;  Harvard  College  and 
common  school  system 
founded,  i,  239,  242  ;  heresies 


494 


INDEX 


Massachusetts — Contimied 

and  witchcraft  in,  i,  239,  385; 
ii,  294,  299,  300;  the  "  Cam- 
bridge Platform,"  i,  242  ;  ex- 
odus of  towns  to  Connecticut, 
ii,  240,  247  ;  population  of,  i, 
241,  245  ;  the  Regicides  wel- 
comed in,  i,  245  ;  Federation 
of  New  England  Colonies,  i, 
240,  241,  252;  ii,  259,  267  ; 
mint  established  in,  i,  244  ; 
charter  of,  confirmed,  i,  246  ; 
suffers  from  King  Philip's 
war,  i,  250,  251  ;  charter  of, 
vacated,  i,  252;  ii,  271  ;  royal 
government  established,  called 
Dominion  of  New  England, 
i,  252,  253,  323,  403  ;  Church 
of  England  in,  i,  255  ;  suffers 
from  French  and  Indian  wars, 
i,  256,  263  ;  charter  of  royal 
province  of,  granted,  i,  257, 
259 ;  government  of,  while 
royal  province,  i,  257-259 ; 
see  also  Assembly  ;  boundary 
disputes  of,  i,  258,  338;  ii,  258, 
265,  266,  325,  329,  342  ;  free- 
dom of  the  press  in,  i,  264  ; 
gold  made  legal  tender  in,  i, 
276  ;  town-meetings  begun  in 
Boston,  i,  279  ;  Committee  of 
Correspondence  formed,  i,  153, 
279  ;  effect  of  Stamp  Act  in, 
i,  280  ;  Stamp  Act  Congress, 
i,  431  ;  resists  Quartering  Act, 
i,  280 ;  Boston  Tea-Party,  i, 
2S4,  288  ;  Boston  Port  Bill,  i, 
291  ;  charter  privileges  of,  re- 
voked, i,  291  ;  proposes  gen- 
eral congress  of  colonies,  and 
appoints  delegates  to  it,  i,  151, 
291,440;  the  Suffolk  Resolu- 
tions, i,  291  ;  battle  of  Lex- 
ington, i,  157,  292  ;  adopts 
State  constitution,  i,  292 

Massasoit,   i,    201,   207;   ii,  291. 

295 
Matanzas  River,  i,  38,  39 
Matienzo,  Juan  de,  i,  24,  27 
Mattapany,  ii,  127 


Matthews,  Samuel,  i,  103,  104 

Maury,  Rev.  Mr.,  i,  140 

Maverick,  Samuel,  i,  223,  224, 
241,  249 

Mayjlozver ,  the,  i,  188,  192,  195, 
199 

Maynard,  Lieutenant,  ii,  375 

Mcintosh,  Colonel,  ii,  475 

McKean,  Thomas,  ii,  100,  loi 

McLeod,  John,  ii,  458 

McPherson,  Captain,  ii,  455 

Medford,  i,  233 

Megapolensis,  Dominie,  i,  382  ; 
ii,   73 

Menden,  i,  288 

Menendez,  Pedro,  i,  38-40 

Mennonites,  the,  i,  381  ;  ii,  166, 
19T,  195,  206 

Merchant  Adventurers,  or  the 
London  partners  of  the  Ply- 
mouth colony,  i,  173,  192, 
209-211 

Merrimac  River,  the,  i,  179, 
186,  226,  250,  305,  325 

Merrimac  Valley,  i,  334,  336 

Merrymount,  i,  222,  299 

Metacomet,  see  Philip 

Mexico,  i,  25,  28,  34,  35 

Mey,  Captain  Cornelius  Jacob- 
sen,  i,  358,  359  ;  ii,  2,  3,  52, 
236 

Miantonomo,  ii,  252,  254,  258, 
306,  311,  312 

Michaelius,  Jonas,  i,  363 

Middle  Plantation,  Oath  of,  i, 
110-112,  122 

Middletown,  ii,  15,  19 

Midway  River,  the,  ii,  458,  468, 

473 

Milborne,  Jacob,  i,  394,  396, 
397,  402 

Milford  (Ct.),  ii,  257 

Milford  (N.  J.),  ii,  13 

Miller,  Thomas,  ii,  361-365 

Milton,  i,  291 

Minquas'  Kill,  ii,  57,  70,  75,  149 

Minuit,  Director  Peter,  i,  360, 
364,  365,  368  ;  plants  Swedish 
colony  in  Delaware,  ii,  56,  57, 
59,  62,  70,  73,  93,  149 


INDEX 


495 


Miruelo,  Diego,  i,  22 
Mississippi    River   (Miche-Sepe, 
or   Father   of  Waters),    i,   24, 

33,  119 
Mohawk  River,  the,  i,  386,  395 
Mohawk  Valley,  i,  406,  415 
Mohawks,    Society    of,     i,    436, 

440 
Mohawks,  the,  i,   312,  314,  365, 

405,   413  ;   ii,   237,  238,    251 
Mohicans,   the,   i,   365  ;  ii,   237, 

238,  241,  246,  250-252 
Monckton,  Robert,  i,  426 
Monhegan    Island,    i,   164,    169, 

181 
Monk,   George,    Duke  of  Albe- 
marle, ii,  357,  394 
Monmouth,  Duke  of,  i,  116 
Monmouth  patent,  the,  ii,  15 
Monongahela  River,  the,  i,  127, 

128 
Montague,    Lord    Charles   Gre- 

ville,  ii,  437.  438 
Montcalm,   Marquis  de,   i,    423, 

424 
Montgomerie,  John,  i,  409,  410  ; 

ii,  39 
Montgomery,  Sir  Robert,  ii,  446 
Montreal,  i,  135,  165,  425 
Moody,  Rev.  Joshua,  i,  308,  317, 

319 
Moore,  Elizabeth,  ii,  426 
Moore,  Sir  Henry,  i,  432,  435 
Moore,  Colonel  James,   ii,   371, 

391 
Moore,  James,  ii,  414,  415,  424 
Moore's  Creek  Bridge,  battle  of, 

ii,  391 
Moravians,  the,  ii,  181,457,458, 

461 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  i,  21 
Moreton,    Joseph,    ii,    407-409, 

414 
Morris,  Lewis,  i,  405,  411,  4^3  ; 

ii,  37,  39,  225 
Morris,  Robert   Hunter,  ii,  225, 

226 
Morton,  Charles,  i,  263 
Morton,  Thomas,  Nexv  England 

Canaan,  by  i,  222 


Moultrie,    Colonel    William,    ii, 

441,  442 
Mount  Hope,  ii,  295,  330 
Mount  W^ollaston,  i,  222 
Murray,  John,  Earl  of  Dunmore, 

see  Dunmore 
Murray,  Joseph,  ii,  40 
Musgrave,  Mary,  ii,  450,  471 
Muskogees,  the,  ii,  370,  450,  452, 

461 
Mutiny  Act,  the,  enforced  in  the 

colonies,  i,  129,  148,  420 


Namquit,  ii,  351 

Nancy,  the,  i,  439,  440 

Nansemond,  i,  101  ;  ii,  355 

Nanticokes,  the,  ii,  224 

Nantucket,  i,  385 

Narragansett  Bay,  i,  364  ;  ii,  251, 
264,  291,  320,  325 

Narragansett  Colony,  the  (Nar- 
ragansett Plantations),  i,  240, 
246  ;   ii,  305-313 

Narragansett  River,  ii,  238,  241, 
264,  266,  325 

Narragansetts,  the,  i,  201  ;  ii, 
252,  291  ff.,    300,    309,    312, 

329-331  .       ^ 

Narvaez,    Pamphilio    de,    1,    28, 

29 
Nashua  River,  i,  250 
Naumkeag  (Salem)  River,  i,  174, 

179,  226,  229 
Navesink,  ii,  15,  16,  19,  29,  30 
Navesinks,  the,  ii,  15 
Navigation  Acts,   the,  i,  105  ff., 

143,  148,  245,   246,  279,  314; 

ii,    124,    331,    344,    361,    362, 

364,  430,  436 
Neil,  or  Neal,  Captain  Walter, 

i,  178,  179,  300,  301 
Nelson,  Captain  Francis,  i,  67 
Nelson,  Thomas,  i,  160,  161 
Neuburg,  John  William,  Elector 

of,  i,  123 
Neuse  River,  the,  ii,  369,  370 
New   Amstel    (New  Castle),   ii, 

75,  76,  78,  79,  82 


496 


INDEX 


New    Amsterdam,    i,    360,    363, 
365,  366,  370,   377,   378,    3S6, 
3SS;  ii,  6,  74,  76 
Newark,  ii,  13.  49 
Newark  Bay,  ii,  7 
New  Bermuda,  i,  77 
New  Berne,  ii,  369-371,  3S2,  3S9 
New  Brunswick,  ii,  37,  44 
Newcastle,  Duke  of,  ii,  211,  381, 

426 
Newcastle  (N.  H,),  i,  301,  329 
New     Castle    Colony     of    New 
York   (Delaware    Territories), 
ii,   80 
New  Castle  (New  Amstel,  Fort 
Casirair),    ii,    70,   82,    85,   97, 
loi,  103,  159,  162 
New  Darien,  ii,  458 
New     Description^     by     Joseph 

Archdale,  ii,  405,411 
New  England,  early  expeditions 
to,  i,  162-187,  etc.;  first  per- 
manent settlement  in,  i,  163  ; 
named,  i,  166,  171,  355  ;  fish- 
eries of,  i,  166,  169,  171  ;  land- 
ing of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  in, 
i,  188  et  seq.  ;  Afassachusetts 
Bay  Colony  established,  i,  211 
et  seq  ;  provision  for  educa- 
tion in,  i,  218,  278,  281  ;  In- 
dian wars  in,  i,  218^.,  240  ;  ii, 
246-253,  270  ;  Church  of,  es- 
tablished, i,  230,  231,  242  ; 
Society  for  the  Promoting  and 
Propagating  of  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ  in,  i,  242  ;  Con- 
federation of  the  Puritan  Col- 
onies of,  i,  214,  240,  241,  252, 
299,  374  ;  ii,  248,  257.  259, 
265,  320  ;  royal  Dominion  of, 
i,  220,  252,  255,  323,  324,391, 
393,  403 ;  ii,  26,  27r,  332  ; 
Council  for,  see  Council 
New  England  Courant,  i,  264 
New  Finland,  ii,  72,  155 
Newfoundland,  i,  21,  30,  34,  47, 

72,  162,  341  ;  ii,   104 
New  France,  i,  29,  30 
New  (iottenburg,  ii,  153 
New     Hampshire,     first     settle- 


ments in,  i,  175,  293  _/f".,  302; 
named,  i,  179,  299  ;  jurisdic- 
tion of  Massachusetts  over,  i, 
1S7,  260,  268,  304-306,  310, 
311,  317,  324,  338  ;  effect  of 
French  and  Indian  wars  upon, 
i,  219,  312-31^,  323-325, 328- 
330,  336  ;  included  in  Domin- 
ion of  New  England,  i,  321, 
324  ;  government  of,  estab- 
lished, i,  317-3191  337.  338; 
militia  organised,  i,  317  ;  As- 
sembly and  Council  of,  i, 
3t7  ff.,  337  ;  see  also  Assem- 
bly ;  trade  of,  i,  318,  326  ;  pop- 
ulation of,  i,  324  ;  the  King's 
Woods  in,  i,  327,  330;  finan- 
cial difficulties  of,  i,  325,  330, 
341  ;  Scotch-Irish  settlers  in, 
i.  334i  335  I  introduce  pota- 
toes and  flax  into,  i,  336  ; 
grants,  i,  334,  426  ;  boundary 
disputes  of,  i,  338,  427  ;  first 
paper  money  issued  by,  i,  341  ; 
Rangers,  i,  345  ;  opposed  to 
Stamp  Act,  i,  346,  349  ;  re- 
fuses to  receive  tea  ships,  i, 
350  ;  sends  aid  to  Boston,  i, 
283,  350;  appoints  Committee 
of  Safety,  i,  350  ;  adopts  State 
constitution,  i,  350 

New  Haven  Colony,  planted  by 
Puritans,  i,  240,  241,  245,  355, 
364,  371  ;  ii,  257,  259,  261. 
263  ;  settlements  on  the  Dela- 
ware by,  ii,  62  ;  absorbed  by 
Connecticut  Colony,  ii,  255, 
265,  266  ;  Yale  College  found- 
ed at,  ii,  281 

Newichwannock,  i,  300,  302 

New  Inverness,  ii,  468 

New  Jersey,  early  Dutch  settle- 
ments in,  ii,  1-7,  II  ;  seized  by 
English,  ii,  7  ;  fertility  of,  ii, 
5,  13,  20;  name  of,  changed, 
i,  386  ;  ii,  8,  9  ;  sold  by  Duke 
of  York,  ii,  S,  159  ;  liberal 
proprietary  government  of,  ii, 
10-12,  15  ;  Puritan  settlers  in, 
ii,    7-16,    22  ;    religious    sects 


INDEX 


497 


New  Jersey — Continued 

in,  ii,  1 2- 1 6  ;  captured  by  the 
Dutch,  ii,  i8  ;  restored  to  Eng- 
lish control,  ii,  19 ;  troubles 
with  proprietors  over  rent,  ii, 
i6-ig  ;  province  of,  bought  by 
Quakers  and  Presbyterians,  ii, 
22  ;  divided  into  East  and 
West  Jersey,  ii,  22,  24,  29 ; 
East  Jersey  Association,  ii,  22- 
26,  159  ;  Scotch  Presbyterians 
flee  to  East  Jersey,  ii,  24,  25  ; 
Anti-Slavery  Act  passed  in  East 
Jersey,  ii,  23  ;  grievances  of 
East  Jersey,  i,  389  ;  ii,  25-29  ; 
East  Jersey  petitions  for  Crown 
government,  ii,  2g,  33,  34  ; 
West  Jersey,  the  first  Quaker 
province,  i,  389  ;  ii,  24,  29, 
154,  159;  Salem  settled,  ii.  30; 
migration  of  Friends  to  West 
Jersey,  ii,  31,  32  ;  West  Jersey 
petitions  for  Crown  govern- 
ment, ii,  33,  34  ;  included  in 
Dominion  of  New  England, 
ii,  26  ;  East  and  West  Jersey 
united  in  royal  province  of,  ii, 
34 _^.  ;  negro  slavery  in,  ii,  35  ; 
General  Assembly  of,  ii,  34  ; 
first  paper  money  issued  in,  ii, 
37  ;  great  revival  in,  ii,  39  ; 
lotteries  in,  ii,  43  ;  British  sol- 
diers quartered  upon,  ii,  44  ; 
sends  delegates  to  Stamp  Act 
Congress,  ii,  49;  sends  aid  to 
Boston,  i,  283  ;  ii,  49  ;  appoints 
Committee  of  Correspondence, 
ii,  49;  sends  delegates  to  Con- 
tinental Congress,  ii,  45,  50  ; 
adopts  State  constitution,  ii,  50 

New  London,  ii,  261 

New  Netherland,  granted  to 
Duke  of  York,  i,  187,  246, 
249,  383  ;  ii,  7,  266  ;  i,  359, 
363,  381  ;  ii,  60,  80,  84,  153, 
154,  236,  239,  258,  264,  268, 
406 

New    Netherland    Company,    i, 

355-357 
New  Orange,  i,  389 
32 


New  Orleans,  ii,  450 

New  Plymouth,  i,  185,  250,  299, 
302  ;  ii,  237,  292,  296,  299, 
305,  307,  310,  315,  330;  Old 
Colony  of,  planted,  i,  188  et 
seq.,  364  ;  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
in,  i,  171,  173,  174,  188-196; 
London  partners  of  Pilgrims,  i, 
173,  209,  210;  named  by  Capt. 
John  Smith,  i,  171,  ig6  ;  con- 
stitution of  the  Pilgrims,  i, 
195  ;  hardships  of  the  Old 
Colony  of,  i,  iqdff.,  206,  207  ; 
government  of,  i,  205,  208, 
209-211,  214  ;  decline  of,  i, 
217-219  ;  incorporated  into 
royal  province  of  Massachu- 
setts, i,  220  ;  population  of,  ii, 

257 
Newport,  i,  51,  240,  308^.,  316, 

319,   320,   322,   326-328,   332- 

334.  338-340,   343,   347,    348, 

351 
Newport,  Captain,  i,  59,  60,  63, 

67-69,  75 
New  Port  Mey,  ii,  2,  52 
New  Providence,    island    of,   ii, 

372 
New  Shoreham,  ii,  338 
New  Somersetshire,  i,  179,  180 
New  Sweden,  or  Swedeland,  ii, 

5.  54#,  63,  65,66,  70,  73,  74, 

92,  153,  154  . 

Newtown  (Cambridge),  i,  233 
Newtown  (Hartford),  i,  236,  240, 

242,  247,  248 
New    York    (New  Netherland), 

early   Dutch  settlements  in,  i, 

351, 352,  355,  358,  360, 363 ; 

purchase  of  Manhattan  Island, 
i,  360;  formation  of  New  Neth- 
erland and  Dutch  West  India 
Companies,  i,  355,  357_;  N'ew 
Amsterdam  founded,  i,  360, 
363,  365  ;  boweries  and  pa- 
trooneries  of,  i,  363,  366,  367; 
Indian  troubles  in,  i,  372,  373, 
381  ;  government  of  New  Am- 
sterdam, i,  377,  386  ;  various 
nationalities  of  emigrants  to, 


498 


INDEX 


New  York — Continued 

i,  3S1,  3S2,  3S6  ;  seized  by 
English,  i,  383  ff.\  ii,  406; 
witchcraft  in,  i,  3S5  ;  religious 
liberty  of,  i,  387  ;  slavery  in,  i, 
386,  414  ;  Church  of  England 
established  in,  i,  3S7  ;  lecap- 
tured  by  Dutch,  i,  388,  389  ; 
restored  to  English,  i,  389  ; 
Assembly  of,  i,  390  ;  see  also 
Assembly  ;  charter  of  ciiy  of, 
i,  391  ;  Leisler's  Rebellion,  i, 
393^.;  made  a  royal  province, 
i,  396  ;  the  King's  Farm,  i, 
398  ;  smuggling  in,  i,  401  ; 
French  and  Indian  wars  in,  i, 
402,  420-425  ;  treaty  with  Six 
Nations,  i,  405,  40S,  416  ;  Pal- 
atine and  Scotch  settlers  in,  i, 
406,  414  ;  King's  College  es- 
tablished in,  i,  419  ;  effect  of 
Mutiny  Act,  i,  420 ;  Stamp 
Act  Congress  held  in,  i,  431  ; 
society  of  Sons  of  Liberty 
formed,  i,  432  ;  fights  over 
erection  of  Liberty-pole,  i, 
432,  435,  436,  439;  refuses  to 
comply  with  Quartering  Act,  i, 
2S0,  432  ;  adopts  Virginia  Res- 
olutions, i,  435  ;  boundary  dis- 
putes of,  settled,  i,  280,  439  ; 
interferes  with  government  of 
New  Jersey,  ii,  23,  28,  29  ; 
Hospital  founded,  i,  439  ;  ap- 
points Vigilance  Committee,  i, 
439  ;'  tea-party  in,  Bay,  i,  440  ; 
denounces  Boston  Port  Bill,  i, 
440;  territories  of,  ii,  154; 
sends  delegates  to  Continental 
Congress,  i,  440,  441  ;  adopts 
State  constitution,  i.  442 
Neio  York  Weekly  Gazette,    the, 

i,  409,  411 
New  York  Weekly  yoiirnal,  the, 

i,  411 
Niagara,  i,  409,  424 
Nicholls,  Matthias,  i,  395 
Nicholson,    Francis,   i,   118-122, 
263,    391,    393,    396  ;    ii,    130, 
131,  424,  425 


Nicollet,  i,  119 

Nicolls,  Colonel  Richard,  i,  1S7, 
246,  3S3-385,  387  ;  ii,  7,  8,  15, 
26,  27,  38,  80,  154,  156 

Noddle's  Island,  i,  223,  241,  249 

Non-importation  agreements,  i, 
152,  28S,  350,  431  ;  ii,  49,  147, 
232,  247,  389 

Norfolk,  i,  125 

Norridgewock,  i,  2C0,  267 

North,  Lord,  i,  159 

North  Carolina,  exploration  of 
coast  of,  i,  47  ;  early  settle- 
ments in,  ii,  354-357  ;  palatin- 
ate of,  created,  ii,  354-356 ; 
boundaries  of,  ii,  356  ;  laws 
and  constitution  of,  ii,  357- 
359,  361  ;  Indian  trade  of,  ii, 
357,  359  ;  called  Rogues'  Har- 
bour, ii,  358,  375,  394  ;  new 
charter  granted  to,  ii,  358  ;  at- 
tempt to  impose  the  "  Grand 
Model  of  Governments"  on,ii, 
359,  361,  365,  366;  Quakers 
and  the  Te-t  Oaih  in,  ii,  367  ; 
self-government  permitted,  ii, 
361-366  ;  counties  of,  ii, 
357,  361,  367,  372,  3S2; 
population  of,  ii,  362,  384, 
390;  products  and  trade  of,  ii, 
362-364,  383  ;  currency  of, 
ii,  363,  384  ;  Huguenot,  Swiss, 
and  German  settlers  in,  ii,  368  ; 
the  Tuscarora  and  Yamassee 
wars,  i,  123;  ii,  369-371; 
Church  of  England  established 
in,  ii,  367;  takes  action  against 
pirates,  ii,  375,380;  characteris- 
tics of  people  of,  ii,  376-3S0  ; 
slavery  in,  ii,  376  ;  becomes  a 
Crown  province,  ii,  380,  381  ; 
Scotch-Irish  in,  ii,  3S3  ;  aids 
in  French  and  Indian  wars,  ii, 
384,  385  ;  pioneer  explorers 
from,  ii,  387,  388  ;  Regulators 
of,  ii,  386-389 ;  adopts  Vir- 
ginia  Resolutions,  ii.  389; 
sends  delegates  to  Continental 
Congress,  ii,  3S9,  390  ;  forms 
Association    to   defend    rights 


INDEX 


499 


North  Carolina — Continued 
and  liberties,  ii,  390-392  ;  bat- 
tle of  Moore's  Creek  Bridge, 
ii,  39T  ;  adopts  State  constitu- 
tion, ii,  392 
N'orth  Carolina  Gazette,  ii,  384 
North,  or  Mauritius,  River(Hud- 

son),  i,  355,  35S  ;  ii,  2,  3,  60 
Norumbega  (Arembec),  i,  21,  30, 

44,  45,  50 
Nott,  Edward,  i,  123 
Nova  Scotia,  i,  174,  176  ;  ii,  228 
Nutter,  Anthony,  i,  323 
Nya  Elfsborg,  ii,  6,  65,  68,  70 
Nya  Goteborg,   ii,   65,   73,   150, 
155 


Odiorne's  Point  (Little  Harbour), 
i,  297 

Ogeechee  River,  the,  ii,  455,  458, 
468 

Ogle,  Samuel,  ii,  135 

Oglethorpe,  General  George 
James,  founds  colony  of 
Georgia,  i,  126;  ii,  428,  447- 
458,  461,  462,  465 

Ohio  Company,  charter  of  the,  i, 
126 

Ohio,  forks  of  the.  Fort  Du- 
quesne  at,  ii,  224,  228;  Valley, 
i,  126-128  ;  ii,  384,  433 

Oldham,  John,  i,  169,  210,  222  ; 
ii,  240,  246 

Old  South  Church,  the,  i,  255 

Olive,  Thomas,  ii,  31 

Oliver,  Andrew,  i,  280,  287 

Olotocara,  i,  39 

Oneida  Lake,  ii,  371 

Onondaga,  i,  407 

Ontario,  Lake,  i,  409,  424 

Opekankano,  i,  64,  69,  91  ff., 
lOI 

Opitchapan,  i,  91 

Orange,  Maurice,  Count  of  Nas- 
sau, Prince  of,  i,  355 

Order  in  Council,  ii,  422 

Orkney,  Lord,  i,  122,  125 

Osborne,  Sir  Danvers,  i,  419 


Oswego,   i,  408,  409,  415,   423, 

425 
Otis,  James,  i,  276,  280 
Oxenstjerna,  Axel,  Count  of,  ii, 

55,  56 
Oyster  Point,  ii,  400,  401,  405 
Oyster  River,  i,  309 


Paauw,  Michael,  i,  367  ;  ii,  4 
Palatines,  the,  in  the  colonies,  i, 

123,    406,    407;   ii,    136,    195, 

196 
Palmer  Island,  i,  96  ;  ii,  108 
Pamlico  Sound,  ii,  359,  367,  368, 

370,  375,  422 
Pamunkey  River,  the,  i,  loi 
Pannaway,  i,  175 
Paper   money,   issue  of,   in   the 

colonies,  i,  263,  341  ;  ii,  200, 

281,  337,   338,   342-344,   415, 

441,  468 
Pappegoja,  Johan,  ii,  70 
Paris,  Colonel,  ii,  424 
Paris,  Ferdinando  John,  ii,  201 
Paris,  treaty  of,  ii,  44,  100,   143, 

471,  472 
Parliament,  i,  124,  127,  134,  147, 

172;    ii,   259,    272,   273,    346, 

347,    419,    449,  465  ;    imposes 

tax  on  tea,  i,  148,  284,   436  ; 

right    of,  to  tax    the    colonies 

disputed,  i,  124,  151,  280,  404  ; 

ii,  347  ;  the  Long,  ii,  118 
"  Parsons'  Cause,"   the,  i,   139- 

143 
Partridge,  William,  i,  326,  328 
Pascna  Florida,  i,  2  2 
Pasqualigo,  Lorenzo,  i,  9 
Pasquotank  River,  ii,  357,  363 
Passaconaway,  i.  312 
Passaic  River,  the,  ii.  7,  11,  13 
Pastorius,    Francis    Daniel,     ii, 

165 
Patapsco  River,  the,  ii,  134 
Patience  Island,  ii,  310 
Patrooneries,  i,  366^.,  386 
Patuxent   River,    the,    i,  96  ;  ii, 

J04,  127 


500 


INDEX 


Paulus  Hook,  ii,  5 

Pavonia,  i,  367,  381  ;  ii,  4,  6 

Pawcatuck    River,    the,   ii,   266, 

324,  325,  342 
Pawtucket  Falls,  i,  312 
Pawtucket  River,  ii,  301 
Pawtuxet  (Cranston),  ii,  310,  321 
Pawtuxet  River,  ii,  301 
Pearson,  Rev.  Abram,  ii,  13 
Peggy   Stewart,  burning  of  the, 

ii,  147,  148 
Pemaquid,  i,  164,  166,  180,  181, 

187,  293,  301,  302,  352 
Pendleton,  Edmund,  i,  160,  161 
Penn,    John,    "the   American," 

ii,  188,  202,  216 
Penn,  John  (son  of  Thomas),  ii, 

205,  223,  231,  232 
Penn,  Richard,  ii,  202,  231 
Penn,  Springett,  ii,  197,  200 
Penn,   Thomas,  ii,  97,  202,  205, 

208,  212,  216,  220,  223,  231 
Penn,  William,  ii,  30,  32,  i^bff.; 

grant  of   Pennsylvania   to,   ii, 

84,  159,  160  ;  two  visits  to  his 

province,  ii,  85,  94,  162,  188  ; 

rights  of,  to  Delaware,  ii,  87, 

126  ;  treaty  of,  with  Indians, 

ii,    178,    181,    182,    189,    192  ; 

"Frame"  of  government,  ii, 

94,  i6g,  170,  173,  183  ;  in- 
gratitude of  province  to,  ii, 
184,  185,  187,  194,  195  ;  In- 
dian names  for,  ii,  181  ;  life  at 
Pennsbury  Manor,  ii,  165,  1S9, 
190  ;   returns  to    England,   ii, 

95,  183,  192,  193  ;  financial 
difficulties  of,  ii,  194  ;  death 
of,  ii,  197 

Penn,  Mrs.,  ii,  197-201 

Penn,  William  (Jr.),  ii,  189,  193, 

197 
Pennacooks,  the,  i,  299,  312,  314, 

336 
Pennsbury  Manor,  ii,  165,  189 
Pennsylvania,  early  Dutch  and 
Swedish  settlements  in,  ii,  149- 
156,  162  ;  Quaker  and  Finn 
settlements  in,  ii,  154,  155  ; 
province  of,  granted  to   Wil- 


liam Penn,  ii,  159  ;  charter  of, 
ii,  159  ;  the  great  Quaker 
colony,  ii,  160  et  seq.\  Penn's 
treaty   with   Indians,    ii,   178, 

181,  182,  189,  192  ;  boundary 
disputes  of,  ii,  161,  162,  183, 
202,  205,  211  ;  German  and 
Mennonite  settlers  in,  ii,  165, 
166,  191,  206  ;  Delaware  an- 
nexed to,  ii,  85,  94,  170  ; 
Council  and  General  As- 
sembly of,  ii,  86,  87,  169, 
170,  173,  183-185,  188,  189, 
202  ;  "  Written  Laws"  of,  ii, 
170  ;  freedom  of  Christian 
worship  in,  ii,  170  ;  character- 
istics of  Friends,  ii,  173,  174, 
177,  178  ;  ingratitude  of,  to 
Penn,  ii,  184,  185,  187,  194, 
195  ;  charter  of,  resumed  and 
restored  by  William  III.,  ii, 
186,  187  ;  new  frame  of  gov- 
ernment granted  to,  ii,  94,  183, 
185,  188,  190,  191  ;  various 
nationalities  of  colonists  in,  ii, 

182,  206,  207  ;  Penn's  second 
visit  to,  ii,  188  ;  Abolitionists 
in,  ii,  191,  195  ;  paper  money 
issued  in,  ii,  200,  201  ;  act  of 
naturalisation  passed,  ii,  170, 
206  ;  governed  by  Mrs.  Penn, 
ii,  197,  198  ;  Penn's  sons  be- 
come proprietors  of,  ii,  203- 
205  ;  first  violation  of  Indian 
rights  in,  ii,  207,  208,  223,  224; 
changes  in,  ii,  216,  219;  An- 
glican Church  in,  ii,  219  ;  the 
Associators  in,  ii,  216  ;  first 
military  law  in,  ii,  226  ;  trou- 
bles with  the  proprietors,  ii, 
220,  223,  226.  227  ;  aids  in 
French  and  Indian  war,  ii, 
224-228  ;    Stamp    Act   in,    ii, 

231  ;  sends  aid  to  Boston,  ii, 

232  ;  sends  delegates  to  Con- 
tinental Congress,  ii,  232  ; 
adopts   State   constitution,    ii, 

235 
Pennsylvania       Chronicle       and 
Universal  Advertiser,  ii,  231 


INDEX 


501 


"  Pennsylvania  Dutch,"  the,  i, 
126,  406  :  ii,  166,  196,  383 

Penobscot  River,  the,  i,  180 

Pensacola,  ii,  462 

Pepperell,  William,  i,  271,  416  ; 
ii,  228 

Pepys,  Samuel,  i,  250 

Pequag,  ii,  241 

Pequot  River  (Thames),  ii,  250, 

251 
Pequots,  the,  i,  240,  365,  370;  ii, 

236,  237,  240,  246,  247,  249/"., 

257,  258 
Perth  Amboy,  ii,  23,  28,  29,  34, 

37,  44,  49 

Peru,  i,  25,  33 

Peters,  Hugh,  i,  305 

Peters,  Rev.  Richard,  ii,  219 

Peters,  Rev.  Samuel,  ii,  256 

Petersburg,  i,  126 

Philadelphia  (City  of  Brotherly 
Love),  i,  124,  291,  431,  441  ; 
ii,  87,  loi,  147,  148,  161,  162, 
165,  169,  170,  173,  178,  188, 
190,   194,   195,  225,  232,  233, 

385,  3S9,  392,  473.  475 
Philip  of  Anjou,  i,  122 
Philip  II.,  of  Spain,  i,  34,  42,  49 
Philip's  war.  King  (Metacomet), 

i,  109,  202,  218,  219,  250,  251, 

312  ;  ii,  268,  330,  331 
Phillipse,  Frederick,  i,  391,  395 
Phippsburg,  i,  164 
Phips,  Sir  William,  i,  256,   257, 

271  ;  ii,  333 

Pierce,  John,  i,  173,  210 

Pietists,  the,  ii,  206 

Pilgrims,  the,  i,  173,  365  ;  ii, 
238  ;  in  Holland,  i,  191  ;  sail 
on  the  Mayflower,  i,  188  ;  re- 
ligious observances  of,  i,  191, 
192,  213  ;  landing  of  the,  at 
Plymouth,  i,  195,  196,  etc. ;  see 
also  New  Plymouth 

Pineda,  Alonzo  Alvarez  de,  i,  24 

Pirates,  infest  Atlantic  coast,  i, 
259,  401  ;  ii.  320,  334,  407, 
411,413,  421,  422;  Algerine, 

ii.  365 
Piscataqua  (N.  J.),  ii,  14 


Piscataqua    Plantations,    i,    175, 

179,  182,   184,   222,  303,  306, 

307,  315 
Piscataqua    River,    i,    293,    294, 

298,  305.  325 
Pitkin,  William,  ii,  247 
Pitt,  William,  Earl  of  Chatham, 

i,  133,  134.  147,  275,423,432  ; 

ii,  228,  436 
Pittsburgh,  i,  127,   135,   424  ;  ii, 

224,  228 
Plain    Truth,    by    Franklin,    ii, 

216 
Plantations    Committee,  i,    loi, 

115,  396  ;  ii,  312 
Plough,  the,  i,  179 
Plowden,  Sir  Edmund,  ii,  67 
Plymouth,  i,  48 

Plymouth  Branch  of  the  North- 
ern Virginia  Company,  i,   54, 

162,  163,  165,  169,  179 
"  Plymouth  Church,"  the,  i,  191 
Plymouth    Council,   i,    171-174, 

176,  179,  180 
Plymouth,  Town  of,  i,  213,  218 
Pocahontas,  i,  64,  67,  78,  81 
Focanokets,  the,  i,  201 
Pocasset(  Portsmouth),  11,306-308 
Pocoson  River,  i,  100 
Point    Comfort,    i,    59,    71,    74, 

96 
Pollock,  Colonel  Thoinas,  ii,  370 
Pomham,  ii,  311,  312 
Ponce  de  Leon,  Juan,  i,  21,  22, 

24,  36 
Pontiac's  rebellion,  i,   135,   136, 

425  ;   ii,    143,    228,   231,   385, 

388,  472 
Popham,  Sir  Francis,  i,  164,  302 
Popham,  Captain  George,  i,  163, 

164 
Popham,   Sir  John,   i,    53,    163, 

164 
Portland  (Falmouth),  i,  175,  181 
Portland  Point,  ii,  15 
Port  Royal  (Santa  Elena),  i,  36, 

38,    393,    400,    406-408,    421, 

437 
Port  Royal  (in  Acadie),  i,   165, 

178,  256,  259,  263,  271 


502 


INDEX 


Portsmouth  (X.  H.),  i,  297,  300, 

307,  308,  317,  324,  336,  350 
Portsmouth  (Pocasset),   ii,    306- 

308,  315,  316,  326,  338,  339 
Portugal,    Emmanuel,    King  of, 

i,  2,  17,  18,  25 
Portugal,  John  III.,  of,  i,  25 
Postal    system     established     in 

colonies,  i,  124 
Potomac  River,  the,  ii,  104,  108 
Potts,  Dr.  John,  i,  94 
Powell,  Thomas,  ii,  43S 
Powhatans,  the,  i,  59,  63,  64,  71, 

74,  lOI 
Pownall,  Thomas,  i,  272,  275 
Pratt,  Benjamin,  i,  429 
Presbyterians    in    the     colonies, 

i,  126,  382  ;   ii,  22,  24,  25,  36, 

159,  195,  207,  216,  260 
Press,  freedom  of  the,  i,  264 
Pring,    Captain    Martin,    i,    52, 

163 
Printz,  Andrew,  ii,  88 
Printz,  John,  ii,  63-67,  70,  150- 

155 

Privateering  authorised,  i,  397- 
401  ;  ii,  88,  319  ff.,  333,  334, 
336,  338,  343-347 

Privy  Council,  the,  i,  327,  346  ; 
ii,  126,  160,  187,  201,  227, 
270 

Providence  (Annapolis),  ii,  119, 
120,  130 

Providence  (R.  I,),  ii,  292,  299, 
303,  306,  310,  314,  315,  319- 
322,  327,  328,  331,  338-340, 
347,  348,  351 

Providence  Plantations,  county 
of,  ii,  338 

Provincetown,  i,  188 

Puerto  Rico,  i,  363 

Purchase,  Thomas,  i,  185 

Puritans,  the,  i,  177,  185,  186, 
226  ;  Great  Migration  of,  to 
Massachusetts,  i,  229-234  ;  as- 
sume debts  and  charter  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay  Company,  i, 
231 ;  legislation  of,  i,  234,  235  ; 
religious  services  of,  i,  232, 
239  ;    religious  intolerance  of, 


1,  235,  239-241,  244;  ii,  310  ; 
provision  for  education,  i,  242; 
in  New  Hampshire,  i,  307  ;  in 
New  York,  i,  382  ;  in  New 
Jersey,  ii,  7-9,13-16;  in  Mary- 
land, ii,  115,  116,  118-122  ;  ii, 
307,  310,  313  ;  in  Virginia,  i, 
100 

Purysburg,  ii,  427,  446 

Pym,  John,  i,  loi,  172 


Quakers,  or  Society  of  Friends,  in 
Massachusetts,  i,  217,  218,  244, 
245,  324  ;  in  New  York,  i,  382  ; 
in  Maryland,  ii,  122  ;  in  New 
Jersey,  i,  389  ;  ii,  14-16, 
19,  22,  24,  29,  30,  36,  159  ;  in 
Pennsylvania,  ii,  154,  161,  162 
ff.,i']0,  173,  177,  178,  181,  186, 
191,  194,  196,  207,  212,  215, 
216,  219,  232  ;  in  Connecticut, 
ii,  260 ;  in  Rhode  Island,  ii, 
322,  323,  329,  335,  337,  340; 
in  North  Carolina,  ii,  367; 
Meetings  of,  ii,  173,  174,  323 

Quarry,  Colonel,  ii,  193 

Quarry,  Robert,  ii,  408 

Quartering  Act,  the,  i,  145,  148, 
275,  280,  432,  472 

Quebec,  i,  135,  165,  178,  352, 
424  ;  ii,  194,  288 

Quinsigamond,  i,  250 


R 


Raleigh,  Sir  \Valter,  attempts  of, 
to  colonise  Virginia,  i,  44-50, 
76,  162,  336 

Randolph,  Edward,  i,  252,  260, 
314,   316,    318,    323  ;    ii,    270, 

271,  331 
Randolph,  Peyton,  i,  154 
Rapidan  River^  the,  i,  123 
Rappahannock  River,  the,  i,  40 
Raritan  Bay,  ii,  23 
Raritan  Indians,  i,  372  ;  ii,  5 
Raritan  River,  ii,  7,  15 
Rasieres,  Isaac  de,  i,  207,  364 


INDEX 


503 


Rasle,  Father  Sebastian,  i,  260, 

267 
Ratcliffe,  or  Captain  Sickelmore, 

i,  60,  67,  71 
Ratcliffe,  Rev.   Robert,  i,  255 
Redemptioners,  i,  105,  106 
Red  River,  the,  i,  33 
Reed,  George,  ii,  loi 
Regicides,  the,  i,  245  ;  ii,  262 
Regulators  of  North  and  South 
Carolina,    ii,    3S6,     3S7,    389, 
437  # 
Rensselaer,    Kiliaen   van,  i,  367, 

368,  374 
Rensselaerswyck,  i,  367,  372 
Reynolds,  John,  ii,  467,  468 
Reynoso,  Captain,  i,  38 
Rhett,  Colonel,  ii,  416,  422 
Rhode  (Roodt)  Island,  origin  of 
name  of,  ii,  2qi  ;  Roger  Wil- 
liams finds  a  refuge  in,  ii,  292, 
295,296  ;  Providence  founded, 
ii,  299  ;  Indian  deeds  of,  to 
Roger  Williams,  ii,  295,  300, 
301  ;  the  Warwick  Plantations, 
ii.  305-313  ;  first  militia  in,  ii, 
307  ;  treaty  with  Indians,  ii, 
309  ;  liberty  of  conscience  in, 
ii,  170,  309,  316,  323  ;  Williams 
obtains  charter  for  Providence 
Plantations,  ii,  314,  315  ;  gov- 
ernment of,  planned,  ii,  315  ; 
bad  name  of,  ii,  307,  310-313, 
320,  334-336  ;  government  of, 
established,  ii,  320  ;  pirates  in, 
ii,  320,  334  ;  privateering  com- 
missioned in,  ii,  319,  320,  333, 
334,  336,  338,  343-347  ;  slavery 
in,  ii,  319,  338  ;  Assembly  of, 
ii,  321,  323,  324  ;  see  also  As- 
sembly ;  charter  of,  confirmed, 
ii,  316,  319;  Quakers  hold  first 
Yearly  Meeting  in  America  in, 
ii,  323  ;  new  liberal  charter 
granted  to,  ii,  324-328,  332  ; 
boundary  disputes  of,  ii,  324, 
325,  329,  330,  342  ;  charter  of, 
vacated,  ii,  332  ;  ofticial  salaries 
in,  ii,  335  ;  under  Dominion  of 
New  England,  ii,  332  ;  tolera- 


tion of  Jews  in,  ii,  333  ;  paper 
money  issued  in,  ii,  337,  338, 
342-344  ;  aids  in  French  and 
Indian  wars,  ii,  337,  339,  340, 
342-344  ;  population  of,  ii,  328, 
338,  342.  344,  345  ;  counties 
of,  ii,  338  ;  schools  in,  ii,  339  ; 
Church  of  England  established 
in,  ii,  340  ;  limitation  of  fran- 
chise in,  ii,  341  ;  financial  dif- 
ficulties of,  ii,  344  ;  trade  of,  ii, 
345.  346  ;  sends  delegates  to 
Stamp  Act  Congress,  ii,  347  ; 
appoints  Committee  of  Corre- 
spondence, ii,  347  ;  sends  aid  to 
Boston,  ii,  352  ;  sends  dele- 
gates to  Continental  Con- 
gress, ii,  352  ;  the  first  colo- 
ny to  declare  independence  of 
British  Crown,  ii,  352,  353 

Ribault,  Jean,  i,  35-37 

Rich,  Lord,  Earl  of  Warwick,  i, 
82 

Richebourg,  Claude  Philippe  de, 
i,  125 

Richmond,  i,  126,  157 

Richmond  Island,  i,  182,  302 

Rigby,  Alexander,  i,  183-186 

Rigby,  Edward,  i,  186 

Rights  of  the  Colonies  Examined^ 
ii,  347 

River  of  Dolphins,  i,  38 

River  Indians,  the,  i,  372,  373, 
381  ;  ii,  5,  6 

River  of  May,  i,  36,  37 

Roanoke  Island,  i,  47,  49,  68  ; 
ii,  354 

Roanoke  River,  ii,  371 

Robertson,  James,  ii,  387,  388 

Robinson,  John,  i,  igi,  233 

Rocque,  Jean  Fran9ois  de  la, 
Seigneur  de  Roberval,  i,  30 

Rodney,  Caesar,  ii,  98,  100 

Rodney,  Thomas,  ii,  98 

Roelandsen,  Adam,  i,  369 

Rolfe,  John,  i,  76-78 

Rolfe,  Thomas,  i,  78 

Roman  Catholics,  the,  i,  95, 
381,  382,  414;  ii,  12,  95,  447 

Rouen,  i,  30 


504 


INDEX 


Roxbury,  i,  233,  236 

Royal  African  Company,  the,  i, 

106,  386  ;  ii,  23,  35 
Rudman,  Andrew,  ii,  92 
Rudyard,  Thomas,  ii,  22 
Rut,  John,  i,  21 
Rutledge,  Edward,  ii,  441 
Rutledge,  John,  ii,  435,  442 
Rye,  i,  297 

Ryser,  Captain,  i,  352 
Rysingh,  Johan,  ii,  70-74 
Ryswick,  treaty  of,   i,   121,  259, 

260,  401  ;  ii,  278 


Sabbatarians,  the,  ii,  341 

Sabino  (Phippsburg),  i,  164 

Sable  Island,  i,  23 

Saco,  i,  182,  184,  186 

Saco  River,  1,312 

Saconoco,  ii,  311,  312 

St.  Augustine,  1,   38,  40,  41,  48, 

352  :    ii,    409,   414,   429,   462, 

474 
St,  Christopher,  ii,  20 
St.  Clair,  Sir  John,  ii,  141 
St.  Clement's,  ii,  109 
St,  Croix  River,  i,  187,  323,  3S5. 

420;  ii,  335 
St,  John's  Bluff,  i,  37 
St,  John's  River,   i,   36,   39  ;   ii, 

356,  458,  462 
St.  Jones,  ii,  82 
St.  Lawrence,  Gulf  of,  i,  26,  2(^7, 

352 
St.  Lawrence  (Hochlega)  River, 

i,    17,   25,   29,    165,    297,   423, 

425 
St.  Malo,  i,  29 
St.   Mary's   River,  ii,   109,    no, 

114,  116,  120,  127,  130,  458 
St.  Simon's  Island,  ii,  457,  458, 

462 
Salem,  i,  229,  230,  232,  233,  236, 

257,   268,    291,   305,    414  ;    ii, 

292-294,  299,  300 
Salem  (N.  J.),  ii,  30 
Salem   Creek    (Varcken's    Kill), 

ii,  5,  65 


Salem  (Naumkeag)  River,  i,  174 

Salisbury,  i,  306 

Salisbury,  Bishop  of,   i,  407  ;  ii, 

26 
Saltonstall,  Rev,  Gurdon,  ii,  278, 

285,  287 
Saltonstall,  Sir  Richard,  ii,  285 
Salzburgers,  the,  ii,  455,  466 
Samoset,  i,  201 
Sanderson,   Captain   Richard,  ii, 

372 
Sandford,  Robert,  ii,  399 
San  Domingo,  i,  24 
Sandwich,  Lord,  ii,  351 
Sandy  Hook,  ii,  7,  15 
Sandys,  Sir  Edwin,  i,  82,  85,  88, 

92 
San  Felipe,  i,  38,  40,  41 
San  Mateo,  i.  38-40  ;  ii,  396 
San  Miguel,  i,  28 
Santa  Elena,  Gulf  of,  i,  35-3S 
Santee  River,  i,  28,  35 
Saratoga,  i,  416 
Sassacus,  ii,  237,  251 
Satourioua,  i,  39 
Sauer,  Christopher,  ii,  206 
Saugus  (Lynn),  i,  233 
Savannah,  ii,  448,  450-452,  458, 

466,  468,  472 
Savannah    River,    ii,    420,    427, 

446,  450 
Say    and    Sele,    Lord,     ii,     242, 

263 
Saybrook,  ii,  242,  247,  250,  251, 

257,  258,  261,  269 
Saybrook  Platform,  the,  ii,  269 
Sayle,  William,  ii,  399 
Scarborough,  i,  186 
Scarborough,  Colonel    Edmund, 

ii,  125 
Schenectady,  i,  256,  386,  395 
Schoharie  Creek,  i,  406,  407 
Schuyler,    Pete  r,    "Brother 

Quider,"  i,  405,  407,  415 
Schuylkill  River,  the,  ii,  60,  149, 

151,  153 

Scituate,  i,  212 

Scotch  Highlanders  in  the 
colonies,  i,  414,  428  ;  ii,  383, 
3S9.  455-45S,  461,  466,  473 


INDEX 


505 


Scotch-Irish,  settlers  in  the  colo- 
nies, i,  125,  264,  334,  335  ;  ii. 
207,  216,  383 

Scott,  John  Morin,  i,  429 

Scoville,  ii,  438 

Scrooby,  i,  171 

Seekonk  River,  the,  ii,  253,  254, 

315 
Selden,  John,  i,  172 
Sequeen,  ii,  249 
Seven  Years'  War,  the,  i,  133 
Severn,  battle  of  the,  ii,  121 
Sevier,  John,  ii,  3S8 
Seymour,  John,  ii,  132 
Seymour,  Rev,  Richard,  i,  164 
Sforza,      Ludovico,      Duke      of 

Milan,  i,  10-13 
Shackamaxon,  ii,  154,  178 
Shaftesbury     (Anthony      Ashley 

Cooper),  Earl  of,  ii,  359>  3^5. 

394,  400 
Shaftesbury,  4th  Earl  of,  ii,  448 
Shamokin,  ii,  215 
Sharpe,  Horatio,  ii,  140-147 
Shawanese,  the,  ii,  178,  182,  224 
Shavvmut,  i,  233  ;  ii,  296 
Shawomet,  ii,  311-313 
Shippen,  Edward,  ii,  219 
Shippensburs:,  ii,  228 
Shirley,    William,    i,    268,    272, 

421,  422  ;  ii,  228,  343 
Shrewsbury,  ii,  15 
Shute,  Samuel,  i,  263,  264,  267, 

330,  333  ;  ii.  339 

Sioux,  the,  ii,  369,  370 

Six  Nations,  confederacy  of  the, 
i,  405,  408,  409,  416  ;  ii,  17S, 
192,  212,  433 

Skelton,  Rev.  Samuel,  i,  230 

Skene,  Alexander,  ii,  423 

Slate  Rock,  ii,  254 

Slave  insurrections,  i,  1 16,  414;  ii, 
429 

Slave-trade,  in  Virginia,  i,  148, 
152  ;  in  New  York,  i.  369, 
386  ;  in  New  Jersey,  ii,  35; 
in  Maryland,  ii,  134;  in  Rhode 
Island,  ii,  338  ;  in  South  Caro- 
lina, ii,  403-405,  407,  414 

Slavery,  in  New  York,  i,  386  ;  in 


Maryland,  ii,  134,  432;  in  Penn- 
sylvania, ii,  19T  ;  in  Rhode 
Island,  ii,  319  ;  in  North 
Carolina,  ii,  376  ;  in  South 
Carolina,  ii,  403,  427,  431, 
432  ;  in  Virginia,  ii,  432  ;  in 
Georgia,  ii,  447,  455,  45^,  465- 
468.  473 
Sloughter,     Colonel     Henry,     1, 

396,  397 

Smith,  Captain  John,  1,  60^.,  64, 

67-69,    71,    165,    293  ;     True 

Relation  of  Virginia,  by,  i,  64 

Smith,  Sir  Thomas,  i,  50,  53.  7i, 

85.  92 
Smith,  Thomas,  ii,  411 
Smith,  William,  i,  411,  412,  429  ; 

ii,  40 
Smith,    Rev.    William,    ii,    217, 

227 
Smith's  Islands  (Isles  of  Shoals), 

i,  169,  182,  293,  302,  304 
Smuggling    in     the    colonies,    i, 

246,  260,  272 
Somers,  Admiral,  i.  72,  74 
Somerset,  Lord  Charles,  ii,  426 
Somes's  Sound,  i,  165 
Soncino,  Raimondo  di,  i,  10 
Sothel,  Seth,  ii,  365,  410 
Soto,  Hernando  de,  i,  33-36 
South  Bay,  the,  i,  359,  367,  37i. 
374,  378  ;  ii,   51,   55,   5^,  70. 
77,  153,  264,  266 
South  Berwick,  i,  178,  300,  302 
South  Carolina,  first  settlements 
in,  ii,  359,  394  ff-  ;  aids  North 
Carolina  in  Tuscarora  war,  ii, 
370  ;  difference  between  sister 
colonies,   ii,   393;    Charles 
Town    founded,  ii,  396,   399- 
402  ;  government  of,    ii,  400, 
401  ;    Indian    troubles   in,    ii, 
402,     403,     419-421  ;     Indian 
and    negro   slave-trade   in,   ii, 

403-405,    407,    414,    427  ; 

counties  of,  ii,  396,  406 ; 
Dutch  settlers  in,  ii,  406 ; 
Irish  settlers  in,  ii,  407,^  435  ; 
pirates  infest  coast  of,  ii,  407, 
408,  414,    421,    422  ;    Spanish 


5o6 


INDEX 


South  Carolina — Continued 
hostilities,  ii,  408,  409,  414, 
416,  42S,  429,  446  ;  charter 
rights  of,  ii,  410  ;  cultivation  of 
rice  begun,  ii,  411  ;  religious 
denominations  in,  ii,  413  ;  op- 
position to  Church  of  Eng- 
land in,  ii,  413-416,  432  ; 
trade  of,  ii,  413  425  ;  paper 
money  issued' in,  ii,  415,  422, 
441  ;  schools  of,  ii,  419,  425  ; 
financial  difhculties  of,  ii,  421- 
423  ;  transfers  allegiance  to 
the  Crown,  ii,  424  ;  population 
of,  ii,  384,  425,  435  ;  province 
of,  bought  by  King,  ii,  426  ; 
part  of,  ceded  to  Georgia,  ii, 
448  ;  Swiss  settlers  in,  ii,  428  ; 
Charleston  burned,  ii,  428 ; 
slave  insurrection  in,  ii,  429  ; 
products  of,  ii,  430 ;  social 
conditions  of,  ii,  430-432 ; 
alliance  with  Six  Nations,  ii, 
433  ;  attempt  to  restrict  im- 
portation of  negroes,  ii,  434  ; 
German  settlers  in,  ii,  435  ; 
effect  of  Stamp  Act  in,  ii, 
435.  436  ;  the  Regulators  of, 
ii,  437  ;  town  of,  removes  to 
Georgia,  ii,  458  ;  refuses  to 
receive  cargo  of  tea,  ii,  438  ; 
adopts  Virginia  Resolutions, 
ii,  437  ;  sends  delegates  to 
Continental  Congress,  ii,  441  ; 
appoints  Committee  of  Safety, 
ii,  441  ;  independent  measures 
taken  by,  ii,  442  ;  adopts  State 
constitution,  ii,  445 

South  Carolina  Gazette,  ii,  438 

Southampton  (Henry  Wriothes- 
ley),  Earl  of,  i,  51,  53,  82,  87, 
92,  166 

South  old,  ii,  257 

South  Kingston,  ii,  331 

South  Virginia  Company,  i,  55, 
70,  71,  75,  81,  82-89 /■.,  92, 
162,  165,170,  195  ;  ii,  399 

Spain,  exploring  expeditions  of  ,to 
America,  i,  2,  6,  21,  22,  25,  43, 
126,  etc.;  ii,  355,356,421,458, 


etc. ;  wars  of,  with  England,  i, 

49,  53;  ii,  211,  342,  400,  408, 

409,  414,  416,   428,  45S,   462, 

465,471 
Spangenberg,  Count,  ii,  458 
Spice  Islands,  i,  28 
Spotswood,      Sir   Alexander,     i, 

123,  124;  ii,  368,  370,371,  375, 

420 
Spry,  Commodore,  ii,  228 
Squamscot  River,  i,  304,  325 
Squando,  i,  312 
Squanto,  i,   201,  202 
Staaten  Island,  i,  358,    360,  369, 

381,  388;  ii,  3 
Stamford,  ii,   257,  259 
Stamp  Act,  the,  i,  144,  145,  153, 

280,  431;  ii,  46,  100,  143,   23T, 

247,  347,  435.472;  repeal   of, 

i,  147,  148;  ii,   146,  231,  348, 

386,  436 
Stamp  Act  Congress,  i,  431 ;  ii,  49, 

100,347,  385,  472 
Standish,  Captain  Myles,  i,   192, 

200,  205,  207 
States-General,  the,  i,    355,  357, 

359,   360,   364-371,   373,   383, 

389;    ii,  51,    57,  238,  239,  258 
Stephens,  Samuel,  ii,    358,    360, 

396 
Stevens,  Thomas,  ii,  465 
Stirling,  Earl  of,  see  Alexander 
Stockholm,  ii,  6r,  63 
Stone,  Samuel,  ii,  247,  251,  260 
Stone,  Wilham,  ii,  118 
Stonington,  i,  373 
Stono  Inlet,  ii,  400,  429 
Stratford,  ii,  257 
Strawberry    Bank    (Portsmouth), 

i,  300,  302 
Strong,  Richard,  i,  50 
Stuyvesant,    Peter,   i,   373,   374, 

377,  381-383;  ii,6,  70-77,  123, 

153.  258 
Suckiag  (Newtown),  ii,  238,  245, 

246 
Suffolk  Resolutions,  the,    i,  291, 

292 
Sugar  Act,  the,  ii,  345,346 
Sullivan's  Island,  ii,  442,  445 


INDEX 


507 


Susquehanna  River,  the,  ii,  223 
Susquehanna  Valley,  ii,  182,  192 
Susquehannocks,    the,   i,    6S;   ii, 

109 
Swansea,  i,  21S 
Swedes,    the,    in  the  colonies,  i, 

371,  378;  ii,  51,  54/'.,  77,  Si, 

83,  149-154 
Swedesborough,  ii,  30 
Swiss  settlers,  ii,  42S 
Sym,  Benjamin,  i,  99 


Tadousac,  i,  165 
Talcott,  John,  ii,  249 
Talcott,  Joseph,  ii,  287 
Tampa  Bay,  i,   33 
Tarratines,  the,  i,  299 
Taunton,  i,  212 
Tawasentha,  treaty    of,   i,   356, 

365 
Tawassgunshee,  i,  356 
Taw  River,  the,  ii,  36S,  369 
Tea,  results  of  the  tax  on,  in  the 
colonies,  i,  148,  152,  153,  284, 
288,    436,   440 ;    ii,    147,    148, 
438 
Teach (Drummond),  or   "Black- 
beard,"  ii,  375 
Tellico,  ii,  433 
Tenacong  or  Tinicum  Island,  ii, 

68,  150,  153 
Tennessee  River,  ii,  433 
Tennessee  Valley,  ii,  434 
Test  Oath,  the,  ii,  367 
Thames  River,  the,  ii,   250 
Thatcher,  Oxenbridge,  i,  276 
The  Nature  and  iVecessity  of  a 
Paper  Currency,  by  Benjamin 
Franklin,  ii,  201 
Thelin,  John,  ii,   88 
Thirkill,  Launcelot,  i,  13 
Thomas,    George,    ii,    211,    212, 

215 
Thomson,  Captain  David,  i,  175, 

222,  297,  298,  300 
Ticonderoga,  i,  422,  424,  432;  ii, 

248 


Timmer  Kill,  or  Timber  Creek, 

ii,  2 
Tobacco,  i,  76,  78,86^.,  95,98, 

105,  114,    133  ;    ii,    III,    124, 

129,  132,  136 
Tomlinson,  John,  i,  338 
Tomo  Chichi,  ii,  450,  452,  456 
Torkillus,  Riorus,  ii,  57,  59 
Townshend,  Charles,  i,  144,  148, 

283 
Treat,    Major-General,    ii,    270, 

273,  278 
Trent  River,  the,  ii,  369 
Trenton,  ii,  2,  44 
Trinity  Church,  i,  369,  398,  402, 

419 
Trott,  Nicholas,  ii,  z;  13-41 5 
Trumbull.  Jonathan,  ii,  254,  255, 

259,  268,  273,  289 
Tryon,  William,   i,  439;  ii.   386- 

388 
"  Tuckahoes,"  the,  i,  99 
Tufton,  Robert,  i,  309,  310 
Tunkers,    the     (Dunkers,    Dun- 

kards,  etc.),  ii,  206 
Tunxis     (Farmington)  River,  ii, 

239,  241 
Tuscaroras,  the,  i,   123,   405;    ii, 

357,   359,  368-371,  375,    395, 

419 
Tuteloes,  the,  ii,  224 
Tybee  Island,  ii,  452,  468 


U 


Uchees,  the,  ii,  420 

Uncas,  ii,  237,  239,  246,  250-253 

Underbill,  Captain  John,  i,  373; 

ii,  250,  253 
Upland,  ii,  68,  82.  84,  150,    154, 

155,  161,  162 
Upland  Creek,  ii,  72 
Usher,   John,   i,    326,   328,   330, 

342 
Usselincx,  William,  ii,  54,  56 
Utie,  Nathaniel,  ii,  78 
Utopia,  by  Sir  Thomas  Moore,  i, 

21 
Utrecht,  treaty   of,  i,    263,    330, 

408;  ii,339' 


5o8 


INDEX 


Van       Cortlandt,      Stephen,    i, 

391,  395 
Van  Curler,   Jacob,  ii,   238,240, 

242 
Van  Dam,  Rip,  i,  410,  411,  413 
Van  Dyck,  burgher,  i,  3S1;  ii,  6 
Vane,  Sir  Henry,  i,  101,239,  240  ; 

ii,  30S,  312,  320,   321 
Van  Tienhoven,  Adriaen,  ii,  71 
VanTwiller,  Wouter,  i,  368-370; 

ii,  4,  62 
Varcken's  Kill  (Salem  Creek),  ii, 

5,6,65 
Varina,  i,  75 
Vaughn,    George,    i,    329,    330, 

341 
Velasco,  Don  Luis  de,  i,  34,  35, 

40 
Velasquez,  i,  28 
Verhulst,  William,  i,  359;  ii,  3 
Vermont,  i,  427 
Vernon,  Admiral,  i,  126,  268;  ii, 

135,  2S7,  342,  343 
Verrazano,  Giovanni    da,    i,    17, 

25-27,  29,  51,  351;  ii,  291 
Versche  or  Connecticut  River,  i, 

355,  357,  35S;  ii,  236 
Vigilance  committees,  i,  439;  ii, 

147,  389 

Villafane,  Angel  de,  i,  35 

Vines,  Richard,  i,  169,  179,  183- 
185 

Vinland,  ii,  291 

Virginia,  early  expeditions  to,  i, 
47-50;  named,  i,  47,  55  ; 
companies  formed,  i,  53-56, 
162,  165  ;  colony  of,  planted, 
i,  56^.;  Pocahontas,  1,64,  67, 
77,  78  ;  new  charters  granted, 
i,  70,  82,  89  ;  government  of, 
established,  i,  86,  87  ;  Assem- 
bly of,  i,  87,  etc.;  see  also  As- 
sembly ;  slaves  introduced 
into,  i,  88^. ;  schools  for  whites 
and  Indians,  i,  89,  100;  "Ma- 
lignant Act"  against  Puritan 
settlers  in,  i,  100-104;  ii.  118  ; 
slave-trade    established   in,    i, 


106  ;  population  of,  i,  103, 
108,  125  ;  redemptioners  in,  i, 
105  ;  .suffers  from  tyrannous 
and  oppressive  measures,  i, 
108^.,  114-116  ;  Church  of 
England  in,  i,  90,  100,  119, 
123  ;  becomes  a  Crown  pro- 
vince, i,  92,94^.;  plantation 
life  in,  i,  98,  99  ;  boundaries 
of,  i,  96  :  Bacon's  Rebellion, 
i,  109-112  ;  production  of  to- 
bacco in,  i,  88,  95,  98,  103, 
106,  114,  230  ;  joins  other 
colonies  in  treaty  with  Five 
Nations,  i,  114  ;  made  a  royal 
province  for  third  time,  i,  116; 
refuses  aid  in  French  and 
Spanish  wars,  i,  1 18-122  ; 
boundary  disputes  of,  i,  68,  71; 
ii,  124,  125,  356  ;  College  of 
William  and  Mary  founded,  i, 
120,  122  ;  capital  removed 
from  Jamestown  to  Williams- 
burg, i,  122  ;  right  of  habeas 
corpus  granted  to,  i,  123  ; 
Palatine  settlers  in,  i,  123  ; 
establishment  of  colonial  post 
system,  i,  124 ;  Huguenot, 
Lutheran,  and  Scotch- Irish 
settlers  in,  i,  125  ;  suffers  from 
French  and  Indian  wars,  i, 
127-137  ;  paper  money  issued 
in,  i,  133  ;  increasing  friction 
between  King  and  colonies, 
i,  138^^.;  smuggling  in,  i,  138, 
148  ;  the  "  Parsons'  Cause," 
i,  143  ;  the  Quartering  Act,  i, 

145,  148  ;  Resolutions  of 
Patrick    Henry,    i,    140,    145, 

146,  158,  160,  435;  ii,  437  ; 
Stamp  Act  in,  i,  147,  14S,  153  ; 
abolition  .  of  slave-trade  not 
permitted  by  King,  i,  152  ; 
Declaration  of  Rights,  i, 
151,  152,  154,  161  ;  tax  on 
tea,  i,  152,  153  ;  Committee 
of  Correspondence  appointed, 
i,  153  ;  sends  expression  of 
sympathy  to  Boston,  i,  154, 
283;  suggests  calling, and  sends 


INDEX 


509 


Virginia —  Continued 

delegates  to,  Continental  Con- 
gress, i,  154;  appoints  Commit- 
tee of  Safety,  i,  160  ;  declares 
independence  of  British  Crown, 
i,  161 

Virginia  Company,  Northern,  see 
tinder  Plymouth 

Virginia    Company,     South,    see 
under  South 

Virginia  Gazette,  the,  i,  126 

Voltaire,  ii,  181 

Voorst,  Paulus  van,  ii,  4 

W 

Wadsworth,  Captain,  ii,  273,  277 
Wahunsunakok,   The  Powhatan, 

i,  64,  69,  91 
Waldenses,  settlers,  i,  381 
Waldron,  Resolved,  ii,  78 
Waldron,  Major  Richard,  i,  313, 

314,  317,   320,  328,  329 
Walford,  Thomas,  i,  223,  230 
Walker,  Henderson,  ii,  366,  367 
Walker,  John,  i,  45 
Walking  Purchase,  the,  ii,  208, 

211,  224 
Walloon  (Wallabout)  Bay,  i,  358 
Walloon  colonists,  i,  358;  ii,  236 
Walpole,  Horace,  i,  272 
Wampanoags,    the.     i,     201;    ii, 

291,  293,  330 
Wampum,  i,  230 
Wamsutta  (Alexander),  i,  201 
Wannalancet,  i,  312,  313 
Wanton,  Gideon,  ii,  341 
Wanton,  John,  ii,  341 
Wanton,  William,  ii,  341 
Ward,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  i,  234 
Ward,  Samuel,  ii,  341,  344 
Waring,  ii,  338 
Warren,  Joseph,  i,  288 
Warren,  Sir  Peter,  i,  415 
Warren,  Baptist  college  founded 

at,  ii,  348 
Warwick,  Earl  of,  i,  240;  ii,  242, 

312 
Warwick    patents,    the,    ii,   258, 

261,  310,  319,  327,  331 


Warwick  (Va.),  i,  98 
Washington,  George,  i,  127,  128, 

130,  134,   135,   152,   154,   292; 

ii,  141,  224,  421  ;  commander 

of  Continental  Army,  i,   292; 

ii,  102,  442 
Watanic  (Nashua),  i,  334 
Watauga,  ii,  387,  388 
Watertown,  i,  233,   236;  ii,  240, 

247 
Wattacongoes,  ii,  313 
Wawequa,  ii,  253 
Weare,  Nathaniel,  i,  320 
Wells,  i,  185 
Wentworth,    Benning,     i,     338- 

346,  426 
Wentworth,  John,  i,  333-337 
Wentworth,    John    (nephew     of 

Benning),  i,  349 
Wesley,  Charles,  ii,  457 
Wesley,  John,  ii,  457 
Wessagussett     (Weymouth),      i, 

207,  221,  222 
West,  Benjamin,  ii,  178 
West,    Admiral    Francis,    i,    94, 

174,  207,  298 
West,  Joseph,  ii,  399,  401,  403- 

405,  407,  408 
West,     Thomas,   3d    Baron    de 

la  Warre,  i,  71-74,   81;  ii,  51, 

52 
Westchester,  i,  382;  ii,  265 
Westerly,  ii,  338,  341 
West  India  Company,  Dutch,  i, 

357,   359.   363-374.   378,   383. 

388;  ii,  2,  3,   54,   56,  58,  59. 

7^,  75,  79  ;  charter  of,  ii,  236 
West  Indies,  the,   i,   2,   22,   39, 

42,  51,  76,  78,   219,  244,  250, 

279,    318,    360;    ii,     57,    199. 

201,   228,   252,   285-287,  342, 

343,    345,  363,  403-405,  414. 

430,  432 
West  Jersey,  see  New  Jersey 
Westminster,  treaty  of,  i,  389 
Westoes,  the,  ii,  403 
W^eston,    Thomas,  i,    173,    207, 

209,  221,  298 
Wethersfield     (Watertown),     ii, 

241,  247,  249,  250,  257,  272 


5IO 


INDEX 


Weymouth,  i,  173 

Weymouth,    Captain   George,    i, 

53 
Whalley,  Edward,  i,  245  ;  ii,  262 
What  Cheer,  ii,  296 
Wheelwright,  John,  i,  239,  304  ; 

ii,  305 
Whitaker,    Rev.  Alexander,   the 

"Apostle  of  Virginia,"  i,  77, 

7S,  89 
White,  Father  Andrew,  ii,  149- 

151,  157 

White,  John,  i,  48,  225,  226 

White,  Peregrine,  i,  18S 

White  Mountains,  i,  301 

White  Notch,  i,  349 

Whitefield,  George,  ii,  457,  466 

Wickes,  John,  ii,  307 

Wickford,  ii,  329,  338 

Wiggin,  Thomas,  i,  323 

William  (III.)  and  Mary,  acces- 
sion of,  i,  118,  121,  122,  220, 
256,  392  ;ii,   26-28,  127,   186, 

274,  333  ;  i.  324,  395,  397  ;ii, 
38,  87,  94,  127-129,  187,  igo, 
274;  death  of,  i,  121,  260,  402 

William  and  Mary,  College  of, 
founded,  i,  120 

Williams,  Captain  Francis,  i, 
164,  302,  303 

Williams,  Roger,  i,  239,  383  ;  ii, 
251,  292-295;  founds  colony  of 
Rhode  Island,  ii,  296,  299;  in- 
fluence over  Indians,  ii,  295, 
296,  299,  300,  314  ;  302,  310, 
315,  319,  320-322,  327,  328, 
331 

Williamsburg,  i,  122,  124,145, 
154,  157-160 

Willing,  Thomas,  ii,  139 

Wilmington  (Del.),  ii,  82,  97 

Wilmington  (N.C.),ii,  382,  389, 

391 
Wilson,  Mr.,  ii,  304 
Wilton,  ii,  429 
Winchester,  i,  130,  133 
Windsor,  ii,  241,  247,  250 
Wingfield,  Edward  Maria,  i.  60, 

67,  71 
Winslow,   Edward,  i,  192 


Winslow,    Josiah,    i,    202,    207, 

214  ;  ii,  296,  312 
Winter  Harbour,  i,  169 
Winthrop,  Fitz  John,  ii,  278,  285 
Winthrop,  John,  i,  231,  232,  235, 

239.    246  ;   ii,    294,   295,  304, 

305,  307 
Winthrop,  John,  Jr.,  ii,  242,  261, 

263,  265,  270,  325 
Wolcott,  Roger,  ii,  288 
Wolfe,  General,  i,  135,  424 
Wollaston,  Captain,  i,  221 
Woodbridge,  ii,  14,  19 
Woodhull,  Nathaniel,  i,  441 
Woonasquatucket   River,  ii,  296 
Wright,  James,  ii,  471-473,  475 
"Writs   of  Assistance,"  i,   148, 

272,  276 
Wyatt,  Sir  Francis,  i,  90,  94,  98 
Wyllys,  Samuel,  ii,  273 


Y 


Yale  College  founded,  ii,  281 
Yamacraw  Bluff,  ii,  450 
Yamassees,  the,   i,    123;  ii,  370, 

400,  40T,  403,  404,  419-421 
Yaocomicos,  the,  ii,  108,  109 
Yarmouth,  i,  212 
Yeamans,  Sir  John,  ii,  394-396 
Yeardly,  George,    i,  78,  82,    85, 

90,  94 
Yearly    Meeting  of  Friends,   ii, 

173,  174,  1S6,  323 
York  and  Albany,  James,  Duke 

of,  i,  106,  187,  246,  383,  426  ; 

ii,   7,   8,   18,  19,  83,  85,  124, 

126,  154,  159,   162,  166,  266, 

268,  269 
York  River,  i,  64,  98,  loi,  no 


Zenger,  Peter,  i,  264,  411,  412, 

429 
Ziekentrooster,  the,  i,  366 
Zubly,  Dr.,  ii,  475 
Zwanendael  (Valley  of  Swans), i, 

367,  369  ;  ii,  3,  52,  59,  76,  82 


The  Story  of  the  Nations. 


Messrs.  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS  take  pleasure  in 
announcing  that  they  have  in  course  of  publication,  in 
co-operation  with  Mr.  T.  Fisher  Unwin,  of  London,  a 
series  of  historical  studies,  intended  to  present  in  a  graphic 
manner  the  stories  of  the  different  nations  that  have 
attained  prominence  in  history. 

In  the  story  form  the  current  of  each  national  life  is 
distinctly  indicated,  and  its  picturesque  and  noteworthy 
periods  and  episodes  are  presented  for  the  reader  in  their 
philosophical  relation  to  each  other  as  well  as  to  universal 
history. 

It  is  the  plan  of  the  writers  of  the  different  volumes  to 
enter  into  the  real  life  of  the  peoples,  and  to  bring  them 
before  the  reader  as  they  actually  lived,  labored,  and 
struggled — as  they  studied  and  wrote,  and  as  they  amused 
themselves.  In  carrying  out  this  plan,  the  myths,  with 
which  the  history  of  all  lands  begins,  will  not  be  over- 
looked, though  these  will  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
the  actual  history,  so  far  as  the  labors  of  the  accepted 
historical  authorities  have  resulted  in  definite  conclusions. 

The  subjects  of  the  different  volumes  have  been  planned 
to  cover  connecting  and,  as  far  as  possible,  consecutive 
epochs  or  periods,  so  that  the  set  v/hen  completed  will 
present  in  a  comprehensive  narrative  the  chief  events  in 
the  great  Story  OF  THE  NATIONS ;  but  it  is,  of  course, 
not  always  practicable  to  issue  the  several  volunaes  in 
their  chronological  order 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  NATIONS. 


The  "Stones"  are  printed  in  good  readable  type,  and  in 
handsome  i2mo  form.  They  are  adequately  illustrated  and 
furnished  with  maps  and  indexes.  Price  per  vol.,  cloth,  $1.50  ; 
half  morocco,  gilt  top,  $1.75. 

The  following  are  now  ready  : 

GREECE.     Prof.  Jas.  A.  Harrison. 


ROME.    Arthur  Gilman. 
THE  JEWS.  Prof.  James  K.Hosmer. 
CHALDEA.    Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
GERMANY.    S.  Baring-Gould. 
NORWAY.     Hjalmar  H.  Boyesen. 
SPAIN.     Rev.  E.  E.  and  Susan  Hale. 
HUNGARY.     Prof.  A.  Vambery. 
CARTHAGE.   Prof.  Alfred  J.  Church. 
THE  SARACENS.    Arthur  Gilman. 
THE   MOORS  IN   SPAIN.     Stanley 

Lane-Poole. 
THE  NORMANS.  Sarah  Ornejewett. 
PERSIA.     S.  G.  W    Benjamin. 
ANCIENT  EGYPT.    Prof.  Geo.  Raw- 

linson. 
ALEXANDER'S  EMPIRE.     Prof.  J. 

P.  Mahaffy. 
ASSYRIA.    Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
THE  GOTHS.     Henry  BrcJley. 
IRELAND.     Hon.  Emily  Lawless. 
TURKEY.     Stanley  Lane-Poole. 
MEDIA,  BABYLON,  AND  PERSIA. 

Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
MEDIAEVAL  FRANCE.     Prof.  Gus- 

tave  Masson. 
HOLLAND.  Prof.  J.  Thorold  Rogers. 
MEXICO.     Susan  Hale. 
PHCENICIA.     Geo.  Rawlinson. 
THE  HANSA  TOWNS.    Helen  Zim- 

mern. 
EARLY  BRITAIN.     Prof.  Alfred  J. 

Church. 
THE  BARBARY  CORSAIRS.     Stan- 

ley  Lane-Pool. 
RUSSIA.    W.  R.  Morfill. 
THE  JEWS  UNDER  ROME.    W.  D. 

Morrison. 
SCOTLAND.    John  Mackintosh. 
SW^ITZERLAND.  R.  Stead  and  Mrs. 

A.  Hug. 
PORTUGAL.     H.  Morse-Stephens. 
THE  BYZANTINE  EMPIRE.  C.  W. 

C.  Oman. 
SICILY.     E.  A.  Freeman. 
THE  TUSCAN  REPUBLICS.     Bella 

Duffy. 
POLAND.     W.  R.  Morfill. 
PARTHIA.    Qeo.  Rawlinson. 


JAPAN.    David  Murray. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  RECOVERY  OF 

SPAIN.     H.  E.  Watts. 
AUSTRALASIA.       Greville  Tregar- 

then. 
SOUTHERN    AFRICA.        Geo.    M. 

Theal. 
VENICE.    AletheaWiel. 
THE  CRUSADES.    T.  S.  Archer  and 

C.  L.  Kingsford. 
VEDIC  INDIA.     Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
BOHEMIA.    C.  E.  Maurice. 
CANADA.    J.  G.  Bourinot. 
THE  BALKAN  STATES.     William 

Miller. 
BRITISH  RULE  IN  INDIA.    R.  W. 

Frazer. 
MODERN  FRANCE.    Andre  Le  Bon. 
THE  BUILDINGOFTHE  BRITISH 

EMPIRE.    Alfred  T.  Story.    Two 

vols. 
THE  FRANKS.     Lewis  Sergeant. 
THE    WEST     INDIES.      Amos    K. 

Fiske. 
THE   PEOPLE   OF  ENGLAND  IN 

THE  19TH    CENTURY.     Justin 

McCarthy,  M.P.     Two  vols. 
AUSTRIA,    THE    HOME   OF    THE 

HAPSBURG  DYNASTY,  FROM 

1282  TO   THE    PRESENT   DAY 

Sidney  W^hitman. 
CHINA.     Robt.  K.  Douglass. 
MODERN  SPAIN.     Major  Martin  A 

S.  Hume. 
MODERN  ITALY.     Pietro  Orsi 
THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES 

Helen  A.  Smith.    Two  vols. 
Other  volumes  in  preparation  are  ; 
THE    UNITED    STATES,    1775  1897. 

Prof.    A.    C.    McLaughlin.       Two 

vols. 
BUDDHIST    INDIA.      Prof.    T.   W. 

Rhys-Davids. 
MOHAMMEDAN    INDIA.      Stanlej 

Lane-Poole. 
WALES  AND  CORNWALL.     Owen 

M.  Edwards 


Heroes  of  the  Nations, 


EDITED  BY 


EVELYN  ABBOTT,  M.A, 
Fellow  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 


A  Series  of  biographical  studies  of  the  lives  and  work 
of  a  number  of  representative  historical  characters  about 
whom  have  gathered  the  great  traditions  of  the  Nations 
to  which  they  belonged,  and  who  have  been  accepted,  in 
many  instances,  as  types  of  the  several  National  ideals. 
With  the  life  of  each  typical  character  will  be  presented 
a  picture  of  the  National  conditions  surrounding  him 
during  his  career. 

The  narratives  are  the  work  of  writers  who  are  recog- 
nized authorities  on  their  seveial  subjects,  and,  while 
thoroughly  trustworthy  as  history,  will  present  picturesque 
and  dramatic  "  stories  "  of  the  Men  and  of  the  events  con- 
nected with  them. 

To  the  Life  of  each  *'  Hero  "  will  be  given  one  duo- 
decimo volume,  handsomely  printed  in  large  type,  pro- 
vided with  maps  and  adequately  illustrated  according  to 
the  special  requirements  of  the  several  subjects.  The 
volumes  will  be  sold  separately  as  follows : 


Large  t2°,  cloth  extra   . 

Half  morocco,  uncut  edges,  gilt  top 


$1  50 
I  75 


HEROES  OF  THE  NATIONS. 

A  series  of  biographical  studies  of  the  lives  and  work  of 
certain  representative  historical  characters,  about  whom  have 
gathered  the  great  traditions  of  the  Nations  to  which  they 
belonged,  and  who  have  been  accepted,  in  many  instances,  as 
types  of  the  several  National  ideals. 

The  volumes  will  be  sold  separately  as  follows  :  cloth  extra. 
$1.50  •  half  leather,  uncut  edges,  gilt  top,  $1.75. 

The  following  are  now  ready  : 


NELSON.     By  W.  Clark  Russell. 

GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS.  By  C. 
R.  L.  Fletcher. 

PERICLES.     By  Evelyn  Abbott. 

THEODORIC  THE  GOTH.  By 
Thomas  Hodgkin. 

SIR  PHILIP  SIDNEY.  By.  H.  R. 
Fox-Bourne. 

JULIUS  CiESAR.  By  W.  Warde 
Fowler. 

WYCLIF.     By  Lewis  Sergeant. 

NAPOLEON.  By  W.  O'Connor  Mor- 
ris. 

HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.  By  P.  F. 
Willert. 

CICERO.  By  J.  L.  Strachan-David- 
son. 

ilBRAHAM  LINCOLN.  By  Noah 
Brooks. 

PRINCE  HENRY  (OF  PORTUGAL) 
THE  NAVIGATOR.  By  C.  R. 
Beazley. 

JULIAN  THE  PHILOSOPHER. 
By  Alice  Gardner. 

LOUIS  XIV.     By  Arthur  Hassan. 

CHARLES  XII.     By  R.  Nisbet  Bain. 

LORENZO  DE'  MEDICI.  By  Ed- 
ward Armstrong. 


JEANNE  D'ARC.   By  Mrs.  Oliphant. 
CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS.     By 

Washington  Irving. 
ROBERT     THE    BRUCE.       By    Sir 

Herbert  Maxw^ell. 
HANNIBAL.    By  W.  O'Connor  Mar- 

ris. 
ULYSSES  S.  GRANT.     By  William 

Conant  Church. 
ROBERT  E.  LEE.     By  Henry  Alex- 

ander  White. 
THE    CID    CAMPEADOR.      By   H. 

Butler  Clarke. 
SALADIN.     By  Stanley  Lane-Poole. 
BISMARCK.     By  J.  W.  Headlam. 
ALEXANDER    THE    GREAT.      By 

Benjamin  I.  Wheeler. 
CHARLEMAGNE.       By   H.    W.    C. 

Davis. 
OLIVER  CROMWELL.    By  Charles 

Firth. 
RICHELIEU.    By  James  B.  Perkins. 
DANIEL  O'CONNELL.     By  Robert 

Dunlop. 
SAINT  LOUIS  (Louis  IX.,  of  Fra«c«). 

By  Frederick  Perry. 
LORD    CHATHAM.         By    Walford 

Davis  Green. 


Other  volumes  in  preparation  are  : 


OWEN   GLYNDWR.     By  Arthur  G. 
Bradley. 

HENRY   V.      By   Charles   L.    Kings- 
ford. 

EDWARD  I, 

MOLTKE. 
son. 

JUDAS    MACCAB/EUS 
Abrahams. 

SOBIESKI.     By  F.  A.  Pollard. 


By  Edward  Jenks. 
By    Spencer    Wilkin- 

By  Israel 


ALFRED    THE    TRUTHTELLER. 

By  Frederick  Perry. 
FREDERICK  II.     By  A.  L.  Smith. 
MARLBOROUGH.       By    C.    W.    C. 

Oman. 
RICHARD  THE  LION-HEARTED. 

By  T.  A.  Archer. 
WILLIAM  THE  SILENT.    By  Ruth 
j  Putnam. 

I    JUSTINIAN.     By  Edward  Jenk8. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  Publishers,  New  York  and  London. 


DATE  DUE 


GAYLORD 

PRINTEDINU    S.A. 

E188  .S64  V.2 

The  thirteen  colonies, 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00024  2091 


